Timeless
by SunRae5
Summary: Three years have passed since Naraku was defeated and Kagome was stranded in the modern era. An amulet from a friend for her birthday and once again everything changes. What is waiting on the other side of the well this time?
1. Birthdays

_A/N: Oof, that's the first chapter and I hope you will enjoy it. =)_

_Since neither Lady Taishou's first name nor the family names of Kagome's friends are ever revealed in the manga or anime, I took the liberty to give them the names presented here. Satomi means beautiful and wise while Yukari means beautiful pear tree._

_Please tell me what you think of my story and leave a review! =)_

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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 1 - Birthdays**

Looking down into the Bone eater's well Kagome sighed. It had been exactly four years ago, on her fifteenth birthday, that she had been pulled down into the Bone eater's well and had met Inuyasha. And it had been nearly three years since she had been to the feudal era. Three painstakingly long years.

After they had defeated Naraku she had been pulled into the Shikon Jewel and Inuyasha had followed her into the void. Yet after wishing for the Shikon no Tama to be destroyed, she had suddenly found herself face down at the bottom of the well in the modern era and no Inuyasha to be seen anywhere. She had tried again and again to cross back into the feudal era but nothing had worked. She was still stuck here, still stuck in the modern era.

She still went to the well every day, trying to get back to the feudal era. She never let her family see how much she missed it though, she knew that it would break their hearts. Letting out another heartfelt sigh she closed the doors behind her and made her way towards the long descent down the stairs that led to the shrine where she was still currently living.

All of her friends had left their parent's home as soon as they had finished high school yet she was unable to distance herself from the shrine. It was the only connection that she had left with the feudal era and she was unwilling to give it up.

Thinking that she might just be developing a permanent sigh, she perked up when she saw Eri Hayagawa wave over at her from the bus stop. Yuka and Ayumi weren't there yet, which was odd considering that it was her birthday today. She decided to shrug it off. They were probably just running a little bit late. After all, they were all only into their second week of college and it was turning out to be more difficult than they had anticipated.

"Happy Birthday Kagome!" Eri shouted as she hugged her tightly. Kagome smiled happily, her nineteenth birthday was something special after all.

"Thank you Eri." Kagome laughed as Eri hugged her tightly again and then proceeded to tell her what they had planned for that day. It seemed as if she wouldn't be able to make it home until early evening at least.

"Here you go Kagome." Eri said as she handed her a small parcel once they had settled down in the bus. "I know it's not much but I really hope you like it." Eri smiled peevishly, apparently slightly embarrassed as Kagome hugged her tightly and thanked her.

Opening the present she gasped. It looked exactly like the Shikon no Tama that she had wished away more than three years ago. Only that it was attached to a necklace.

"It's beautiful." She breathed as she tied it around her neck. "Where on earth did you find this?" Questions burning in her bright eyes she turned to her friend.

Eri scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Actually I found it on the beach around about three years ago." Her friend smiled. "It was just lying there in the sand, covered by seaweed but shining so brightly as the first sun rays of the day hit it. It reminded me of you for some odd reason, so I took it home with me. I meant to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday but somehow I managed to forget it at my grandma's house. So I guess it's a very late eighteenth birthday present. Happy Birthday." Eri grinned at her sheepishly.

"Thank you so much Eri, you don't know how much this means to me." Kagome laughed as Eri blushed slightly.

"It's nothing Kagome, I'm just happy that you're not as ill as you were some time ago anymore."Eri smiled at her and this time it was Kagome's turn to blush. None of her friends would ever know that she had not in fact been ill with all the ridiculous diseases her grandfather had diagnosed but had in fact been travelling back 500 years in time.

Content, both women turned to look out of the window at the crawling traffic and city scape of Tokyo. Turning her face so that Eri wouldn't see her expression, Kagome stared up into the sky. How she wished to see the others from the feudal era again. Fingering the talisman around her neck she wondered what Inuyasha and the others were doing right now.

~.~.~.~.~

"Come on Miroku, we haven't got all day." Inuyasha muttered as both men, along with a fair amount of villagers stared at the warehouse in which a demon had taken up residence.

"Yeah, yeah." Miroku said as he threw two sutras at the door which would force the demon to come out of the warehouse. And it did. Screeching impossibly loud.

Ears twitching in irritation at the high noise, Inuyasha brought Tetsusaiga down on the demon's head, effectively turning it into dust. Sighing he put away his sword as Miroku collected the reward that the village had set and both went off to make their way back to Kaede's village.

It had been nearly three years since they had defeated Naraku and Kagome had vanished, and her abscence pained no one more than it pained Inuyasha. After their encounter with the demons, Naraku and Midoriko within the Shikon no Tama, the world had dissolved around them, and when he had come to he had been staring up into Miroku's, Sango's and Shippo's worried eyes as he had asked them where Kagome was.

Of course they hadn't known, he'd been the only one to return from the void into their era. They didn't even know if Kagome was safe or not. They just knew that she wasn't there.

They had all settled down in Kaede's village to help with repairs as well as trying to find the long sought-after peace. Miroku and Sango had married and were expecting their first child right now. Inuyasha knew that they were expecting twin girls, however had decided not to tell them. He wanted to see Miroku's priceless expression once they were born. And it was considered bad luck anyway to know the gender of the child before it was born.

Apart from when they were on extermination missions, Inuyasha still went to the well each day. For one to try and reach Kagome's era and just to simply see if she was there or if he could catch her smell. So far he had been unsuccessful. What he didn't know was that all of his friends watched him do so each time he did, holding their breaths to see if he was met with success. They all missed Kagome terribly too. She was after all the main reason that all of them had come together and formed a group.

Quite a few things had changed over the past three years. They had all finally settled down. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were also getting on surprisingly well. Both still avoided Lady Taishou like the pest though. And Shippo had met another fox demon under whom he was training to improve his skills. Rin had settled in with Kaede who was teaching her how to live amongst humans so that she could live comfortably with them if she chose to do so in the future. And Kohaku was currently travelling with Sesshomaru to learn how to be a better demon slayer.

Oh yeah, and Koga had married Ayame as well as becoming leader of the wolf tribes. They still saw him around from time to time.

Looking up at the noon sun that was starting to reach its peak Inuyasha felt melancholy. Today was Kagome's birthday and more than anything he wished to see her again. They had met exactly four years ago.

Catching his friend's mood Miroku sighed. Inuyasha was suffering more than he let on and ever would let on. They all missed Kagome greatly and today was her birthday if he remembered correctly. Oh well, there was nothing that they could do but pray that they would be able to see her some day soon. Sango was five months along and she was fervently wishing that Kagome would be there for the birth of the two.

Suddenly Inuyasha stiffened beside him. "Inuyasha?" He turned to his friend as he started to walk once more.

"It's nothing, I just caught a scent of Sesshomaru. He must be somewhere in the area." With a shrug both men set off again, carrying the heavy bags of rice on each of their shoulders, anticipating their arrival at the village.

If he remembered correcly though, Inuyasha had said something in the passing that Sesshomaru's birthday was around this time of the year too. Miroku shook his head. Despite the fact that they got along better now, neither brother was comfortable enough with each other yet that they could just meet and talk. Much less congratulate the other for their birthday. He guessed that some things never changed.

~.~.~.~.~

Inuyasha's nose had been correct. Sesshomaru was in the area. And Miroku was right in his assumption that it had been Sesshomaru's birthday. It had been about two weeks ago. That was after all the sole reason he was here.

His mother, Lady Satomi Taishou, had sent Shoga the flea demon to intercept him and lead him here to meet with one of her delegates. Probably to give him a late birthday present. Sesshomaru sighed. He didn't know why his mother even bothered. Most of the time he avoided her anyway. Maybe old age was making her sentimental. He shuddered at the thought. He did not want to imagine his mother being sentimental or even emotional. It was one of the few things that scared the living daylights out of him. The other being having to be the father of the bride to Rin when the time came. She would reach a marriageable age soon, being twelve at the moment. He was not looking forward to the amount of effort it would bring to him. As well as having to give Rin away of course.

Settling down against a tree he waited, knowing that if he didn't his mother might try to find him personally. And he definitely wanted to avoid that at all costs. Kohaku, now fifteen years of age, was resting against Ah-Un, was enjoying the temporary reprieve from travelling by basking in the sunlight that flitted through the leaves with his eyes closed.

Jaken wasn't too far away either, he had gone off to find some food for himself. Overall it was a very pleasant and calm image, should a complete stranger have chanced upon them.

"Sesshomaru." A female voice woke up all three of them. Sesshomaru slowly opened his eyes only to close them again. A woman was standing incredibly close to him, too close.

"Wake up. Your lady mother sent me with a missive concerning your birthday that passed to weeks ago." Kohaku and Ah-Un were now staring at the woman with interest. She seemed to know Sesshomaru quite well.

"Yukari." Sesshomaru said, finally remembering the name that went with the face. She had been his mother's servant since he had been a pup, arriving there after having been found wandering aimlessly through the forest nearby. Being only three years of age, she had had no memories of who she was, save for her name and where she had approximately come from. The village she had come from had been burned to the ground by passing samurai so his mother, in a rare fit of kindness, had taken her in and then, in not so much kindness, had made her her serving maid. Not that Yukari had ever seemed to mind.

"Well it's good to see that you're finally up. You seem way too lazy for your own good." She just grinned at his growl and handed him the missive.

Scanning the missive he felt his blood run cold. Had his mother gone truly mad now?

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken had returned and after glaring at the whistling Yukari had turned to his master only to find him even paler than usual.

"It seems my mother has decided that you are to be my present this year." He turned to Yukari who just stared at him open-mouthed.

Her silence was most definitely not reassuring.


	2. Crossing Boundaries

_A/N: First off I'd like to thank **AM78** for their review on chapter 1, believe me, it's greatly appreciated. I'd also like to thank anyone who put this story or author on their lists. Thank you. =) Here's chapter 2. It was originally meant to be a part of chapter 1 but I decided to split the two when it just kept getting longer. Enjoy! =D  
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_ Please leave a review, postive or negative, either is greatly appreciated. =)_

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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 2 - Crossing Boundaries**

"My lady Taishou." Rina, the main lady-in-waiting of the demoness, as well as her bodyguard kneeled in front of the inuyoukai with reverance.

"I wonder if he'll like my present?" Lady Satomi Taishou wondered out loud into the room, already imagining the annoyed look on his face. Her son would most definitely have something or the other to say about her choice of his present for this year. What he didn't realise, and probably never would, was that she meant for the best and didn't want to punish or burden him in any manner. Not that he would see that of course.

"Yukari should return soon with news of his reaction." Rina said, already missing her friend. Yukari had served Lady Taishou a good two hundred and fifty years longer than she had and knew the moods of the eccentric demoness better than she did.

"I doubt it. After all she is the present that I sent to him this year." Lady Taishou stated this so plainly that Rina nearly dropped the bottle of perfume that she was applying to the clothes of the demoness.

Schooling her voice to not show the distress that was beginning to build within her, Rina continued with her task of making the robes in front of her smell like jasmines. "She is?" She queried and prayed that no quiver was present in her voice.

"Yes. I was actually planning to send him something different but I was going through some of my husband's stuff that he had left here and among it I found a small necklace. Quite beautiful actually." Rina sighed as Lady Taishou's thoughts drifted off. Sometimes she swore the woman had the attention and concentration span of a koi fish. "Attached to it was a note from my husband to me. In it he said that he wanted me to give this to one of his sons so that they might learn the value that humanity has. Once a being that is not demon touches it, they will instantly become bound to one of his sons for a certain span of years or until some kind of condition is met. He was really very vague about it all." Lady Taishou waved her hand impatiently.

"And Yukari touched it?" Rina knew it to be so but she still wanted to know why Lady Taishou had sent her friend to Sesshomaru and not Inuyasha, the second son of the Great Demon Lord.

"Yes, but that was because I gave it to her to take to Sesshomaru. You see, once I had picked it up, the small thing immediately told me that it would bind someone to Sesshomaru, not Inuyasha, and Yukari was the only one I could spare, so I gave it to her."

If Yukari ever got her hands on her, she was going to throttle the former Lady of the West, Rina knew that much to be true. Yukari had a famously fiery temper, quite the contrast to Sesshomaru's cold demeanor. She certainly didn't want to be in his shoes when he told her of his mother's present for that year. Poor man, Rina thought sadly as she put the bottle away. He was going to want to kill his mother in the end too for inflicting him with Yukari.

Well at least life was going to get interesting for the two of them, Rina thought as she picked up the next bottle and tentavitely sniffed at it. Yes, it was lavender, exactly the smell that she had been looking for. Applying it softly to the silk in front of her, she watched as Lady Taishou began to make preparations to visit both her son and stepson. Life was certainly going to get interesting for them too.

~.~.~.~.~

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Kagome... Happy Birthday to you!" Tears ran down Kagome's face as she smiled. After finishing her courses for that day, Eri, Ayumi and Yuka had tied her eyes under the pretense of taking her to a restaurant for her birthday. Instead, when she had opened her eyes, they had been back at the shrine, surrounded by her whole family as well as all her friends from the university. She had been utterly surprised. She hadn't expected this for her birthday.

Tears brimming over in her mum's eyes too, she hugged her, happiness overflowing her. Souta grinned at his big sister, she had always been so emotional. Grandpa was there too and by the looks of it was trying to sell his home-made sutras to Hojo who was listening closely and attentively.

She had tried to go out with Hojo over the last three years at the insistance of her friends but all that had happened during those dates was that she had seen Inuyasha's face in front of her eyes. They had nearly all ended in some kind of disaster or the other.

"Come on Kagome, make a wish!" Ayumi pulled her friend out of the reverie that she had fallen into, grinning broadly in the process of doing so.

"Okay." Putting a grin on her own face, Kagome leaned over and closed her eyes. 'Wish for something' her mind told her and she formulated her wish in her mind. Taking in a deep breath she blew out all nineteen candles in one blow. Opening her eyes she smiled at everyone around her. She knew exactly what she had wished for.

"So, what did you wish for?" Yuka leaned in slightly, pulling on her arm.

"Yeah, what did you wish for?" Ayumi appeared at her other side, pulling lightly on her other arm.

"Come on Kagome, tell us!" Eri bounced up and down in front of her, holding her hand.

Kagome smiled secretively at everyone around them. "I can't tell you, otherwise the wish doesn't..." Suddenly a bright light erupted around her. Some people screamed.

Kagome looked around herself in confusion. What was going on? This light, it reminded her of the light that the Shikon no Tama and the pure jewel shards gave off.

"Kagome!" She heard her mother's voice through the chaos that had suddenly erupted around them.

"Mama!" She shouted, reaching out with her hand and suddenly she was falling through a black nothingness.

~.~.~.~.~

"It really is beautiful tonight." Sango looked up at the sky, Shippo sitting on her lap while Inuyasha and Miroku sat next to her. Suddenly a star shot straight across the sky.

She turned to Miroku and both smiled to each other. Inuyasha and Shippo rolled their eyes. The two of them had been married for two and a half years now and they still grew all sappy at a shooting star.

"I wish Kagome could be here." Shippo said as he stared up at the sky. A second star shot across.

"So do I." Sango said as she and Miroku snapped out of it.

"Yeah." Miroku also turned his eyes up to the sky.

"Keh." Inuyasha just turned his head away.

"It is not good to wish like that." They all turned their heads as Kaede and Rin approached them.

"Inuyasha-kun? Is Sesshomaru somewhere close by?" Rin turned her expectant eyes towards him.

"I sensed his scent earlier so he must be somewhere in the area. I'm sure he'll stop by soon." He said as Rin smiled brilliantly. Her reply was lost on them though as a bright light suddenly filled up the whole sky. Shielding their eyes they squinted at it.

"Hey doesn't that look like..." Miroku began.

"It couldn't be." Kaede breathed.

Suddenly the air was filled with several screams as some figures hurtled down from the sky. Right onto Inuyasha.

The light dissipated back into nothingness.

"Ow..." A young woman, dressed in very unfamiliar clothing sat up as she rubbed the back of her head. Seeing them stare at her in shock she squeaked and fell off of the pile of people that was underneath her. Inuyasha was right at the bottom of the pile. He looked like stars were flying around his head.

"What the hell?" Another one of the women that was lying on top of Inuyasha got up. She also scuttled back with surprising speed once she spied the unfamiliar people staring at her like she had just fallen from the sky. What she didn't seem to notice was that she had.

"Eri, what just happened?" The first woman turned to the person who had just scuttled beside her.

"I don't know Ayumi. Maybe we hit our heads really really hard." The woman called Ayumi hugged the one that she had just called Eri.

"Ayumi? Eri?" The others all turned as a third person slowly got up. Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kaede and Rin still had the flabbergasted expressions on their faces. Just who were these people?

"Yuka!" The other two rushed forward to help the third get up.

Inuyasha stirred at the bottom of the pile. The other three squeaked once more and moved to the fence that marked the border between the forest and the road.

"What the..." Inuyasha rubbed the back of his head, still looking slightly dazed.

"Inuyasha?" An achingly familiar voice muffled above him.

"Kagome?" The name captured the attention of the rest of the people present. "Kagome, are you okay?" Suddenly Inuyasha was wide awake. Kagome was lying on top of him, of that he was certain. His nose confirmed what his ears were praying they were hearing.

"Yeah, I think so..." Kagome's voice trailed off as she sat up. That was when she noticed Inuyasha beneath her. "Inuyasha!" She suddenly exclaimed and hugged the hanyou with all her might. "Oh my god, it's really you!"

"Of course you idiot, who else would it be?" Inuyasha asked as he hugged her back. She was back, she was really back.

"Kagome!" Suddenly Shippo flew at her.

"Shippo!" Kagome pulled the young fox demon into her hug.

"She's actually back..." Miroku said in a daze while his wife flew past him towards Kagome to hug the young miko tightly with tears in her eyes. "Sango!" Worry for his pregnant wife prevented him from thinking further about the phenomenon that was the appearance of Kagome.

"Never underestimate the power of wishing on stars." Rin nodded wisely while Kaede just continued to stare open-mouthed at the scene that was unfolding in front of her.

"I'm back, I'm actually back. My wish came true..." Kagome cried while she hugged back Sango. Shippo sat on Inuyasha's lap, both appeared to be in some sort of daze.

The mood was interrupted as a scared voice asked, "Kagome, what is going on here? Who are these people? And how do you know them?"

Kagome turned around, fear and panic starting to accumulate in her own eyes. "Eri? Ayumi? Kura? What are you guys doing here?" Everyone now turned their attention to the three fearful women that sat on the ground not too far away.

"I think ye should all come to my hut and we will try to solve this strange mystery." Kaede came to her senses, knowing that nothing could be solved if they sat in the dark outside. Especially since these girls seemed to have no knowledge of what was happening to them.

~.~.~.~.~

"So you're telling us that we're in the feudal area. Right Kagome?" Kagome nodded as Eri looked at her in open disbelief. She had been trying to explain what had happened, as well as the forestory for the past two hours. And while Ayumi looked like she believed her, Yuka and Eri were looking at her like she had lost it.

She sighed. "Like I said, I have been here before. In fact, remember all the time I was off ill four years ago?" All three friends of her nodded. "That was just my grandpa making them up. I was in fact here in the feudal era during that time. That was why I was also absent for such long periods at some points in time."

"It makes sense." Ayumi said softly. The other two looked at her incredulously. "Well, it seems logical doesn't it? How else would Kagome have explained why she was gone. She could hardly tell anyone the truth now, could she?" Inuyasha nodded, he'd always liked Ayumi the best out of Kagome's three friends.

"But still..." Yuka was now only putting up a token protest.

"Then how do you explain how we got here?" Eri said triumphantly. "You said that you and Inuyasha," she waved in his general direction and he bit back a growl, "always went through that creepy well. Yet we didn't go through a well at all." The other two murmered in agreement.

"I'm not exactly sure about that." Kagome said.

"It's a mystery to us as much as you." Miroku said diplomatically. Rin yawned loudly, she was absolutely exhausted.

"I think we should go to sleep for tonight." Kaede said as she smiled at Rin. "Ye are all worn out and so are we by this surprise. Things will look better after a good night's sleep." Kagome also nodded in agreement, barely able to contain yawn that was overtaking her. "Ye four will sleep here tonight. No but's." With that Kaede looked pointedly at Inuyasha. He just shrugged. Just being near Kagome again was intoxicating.

"We'll sleep here tonight too." Miroku and Sango helped get out all of the beds that Kaede had stored away in case of emergencies. Once ready, they all went to lie down on the seperate mats. Inuyasha settled against the wall, watching Kagome with an unreadable expression. Shippo cuddled against Kagome as she closed her eyes.

"Good night everyone." She whispered as sleep overtook her.

Murmurs answered her sleeping form from all around as the stars twinkled brightly outside, seemingly smiling.


	3. Unexpected Surprises

_ A/N: And the main plot thickens... =P =D I hope that this isn't going too slow, I do apologise for my tendancy to try and describe everything... It's just that I see things in my head but I am not always sure if it comes across to my readers that way... ;)_

_ I'd also like to thank anyone who put this story or its author on their lists, the support is greatly appreciated. =)_

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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 3 - Unexpected Surprises**

Stretching her arms Kagome stretched. What exactly had happened yesterday? It had been her birthday and she had been lead to a surprise party by Eri, Yuka and Ayumi. Suddenly she shot up, blinking at the bright light that flooded her eyes. She was in the feudal era, right? It hadn't just been a dream?

"Morning Kagome." Smiling she turned to the voice. It hadn't been a dream then. She really was back in the feudal era.

"Inuyasha." Her voice held so many emotions that his own throat clogged up. Suddenly he didn't know what to say anymore.

"Kagome." Shippo grinned up at her from her lap breaking the tender moment that had been developing between her and Inuyasha. Inuyasha wanted to strangle the young fox demon. Why had he done that?

Miroku resisted the urge to laugh at the hanyou's expression. Inuyasha had obviously not been aware at the expressions that had been developing on his face. They were not expressions that should be shown in public, especially not in front of three friends of Kagome that didn't trust anything from this time. And that sadly included him.

"Good morning Shippo." Kagome smiled down at the young fox demon, once again hugging him to her. Suddenly her stomach rumbled. Inuyasha chuckled at her embarrassed expression.

"How about we have breakfast first." She nodded quite fervently at that suggestion.

"And then we'll tell you everything that has been going on here." Sango smiled as she took Kagome by the arm and lead her outside, proceeding to explain the complex details that were her marriage to Miroku, her pregnancy and her house.

Inuyasha sighed. "They never change now, do they?"

Miroku chuckled at the downcast expression on his friend's face. "Thankfully not Inuyasha, thankfully not.

~.~.~.~.~

Settling in next to Lady Taishou in the orb that the demoness had created, Rina thought back to Yukari and her past with the Taishous. In a certain manner she could understand why Lady Taishou had chosen Yukari and not just some random girl that served them. Yukari most definitely had the longest history with the clan as well as having known Sesshomaru for a long time too. They had basically grown up together.

She, like many others that served underneath the former Lady of the West were inuyoukai themselves. Black inuyoukai that were not related to the royal family, but inuyoukai no less. That was why none of them could have taken over that temporary job.

Yukari was a bit of a mystery though, she had been ever since she had joined the clan. Over the past four hundred years she had only aged slightly, appearing to be the same age as Sesshomaru, namely nineteen years of age. Maybe bordering on twenty now but still. And she most certainly wasn't human. Any taiyoukai would be able to sense as much. Lower ranking youkai would not be able to distinguish her smell from that of a human's but at least half of the court was able to do so.

She smelt different, other, pure. The mere fact that she was aging as slowly as she was without the interference of Lady Taishou proved as much. She was certainly a case unsolved and while a long time ago the other demons had tried to solve it, they now simply accepted that she was who she was and left it at that.

Any new youkai joining or visiting the court certainly didn't have it easy though. Their curiosity was always piqued when they saw her. She was petite, even by their standards, standing lower than Lady Taishou's five foot three. Her eyes were a bright mint green, standing out like vital orbs of life. Right around her black pupils was a layer of gold that struck out in strange and abstract patterns across the rest of her iris, often making the eyes appear like a sea of colours if caught by the right light. And when she was angry these bright orbs appeared to turn into a deep churning emerald green that sparkled dangerously.

Despite her light eyes, her complexion was not fair but slightly tanned, and this wasn't due to spending many hours outside in the sun, it was natural. Along with this came her delicate, breakable features, giving one the impression that she might be frail. But she was always bursting with energy giving rise to a natural juxtaposition. And then finally there was her hair. A vibrant chestnut that turned into a beautiful liquid gold at the tips. Always tied up in one fashion or another, there were always a few curls that escaped and that danced around her face as she moved through the court with a spring in her step.

And then there was her temper. Fiery and lively like her hair in one minute and cool and calm in the next. Even Lady Taishou had learned how to not aggrieve her maid so as to avoid her temper from flaring up dangerously. Along with herself, Yukari was the closest confidante of the demoness, knowing the eccentric Lady better than anyone else.

When Rina had arrived in the service of Lady Taishou a hundred and fifty years prior, it had been Yukari who had taught her everything. And it had been Yukari who had made her feel truly content and welcome at court. She just hoped that this latest scheme of Lady Taishou's didn't spin right out of control, Yukari was more than just a force to be reckoned with. After all, she had managed to survive in the service of Lady Taishou without going mad.

~.~.~.~.~

The same could not be said of Sesshomaru, several hundreds of miles away. After having notified her of what had been said in the letter, Yukari had erupted like a volcano. A very dangerous volcano at that. It had taken Jaken and Kohaku combined three hours to calm her down.

And then there had been that strange light in the evening. It had looked exactly like the light emitted from the Shikon no Tama and Sesshomaru and the rest of his entourage, plus a very disgruntled Yukari, had set off to find the source of it. However upon realising that it was close to the village in which Inuyasha resided they had set up camp for the night and had planned to rest for a while.

It was about that time that Yukari and Sesshomaru had found out about the strange conditions his mother had mentioned only very vaguely. This strange amulet that Yukari now carried could not be taken off by her or anyone else. And believe it or not, they had all tried their damnest. Then came the second condition. They could not be apart any further than ten metres. Even a mere millimetre more and they were thrown back at each other. This had resulted in quite a few collisions, a lot of glares and even more unmuttered words.

So now it was the next day. It had started off with quite a fair amount of bickering between them, neither having slept particularily well the night before. Kohaku, Ah-Un and Jaken all wisely kept quiet, not wanting to pull either one's wrath upon them.

And so they marched into Kaede's village, intent on giving Inuyasha and his gang an unexpected surprise. As well as demanding to want to know what that strange light had been from the day before.

~.~.~.~.~

"I am most definitely dreaming." Was Ayumi's reaction when she woke up the next morning.

"Someone pinch me." Eri said as she stared at the villagers going about their usual business in the fields and otherwise.

"I think I might have had the wrong kind of drink last night." Yuka simply turned around and lay back down on the mattress, the other two watching her close her eyes and begin to count sheep. After a minute she opened her eyes. "We're not dreaming, are we?"

Ayumi shook her head. "I'm pretty sure we're not."

"Oh you guys are awake." All three turned as they saw Kagome enter the hut dressed in some kind of strange costume.

"Kagome, what exactly are you wearing?" Eri turned to her friend in confusion.

"Oh this?" Kagome plucked one sleeve up. "These are my miko clothes. I am the miko in residence here so I have to dress accordingly." The other three stared at her as she calmly took out some plants from a small cupboard at the back.

"Kagome, would you mind helping me with the clothes?" A young woman stuck her head through the door. The three friends remembered her vaguely from the previous night. If they were correct then her name was Sango.

Running in through her legs a small cat ran up to Kagome and purred as she twined herself around her legs. "Hey Kirara." Kagome laughed as she picked up the small cat. The nekomata purred happily, absolutely joyful that Kagome had returned to them at last.

"Yeah Sango, I'm coming." Kagome called out before Sango pulled her head back through the door and went outside. "Why don't you three come along as well?" She smiled at them. "If we're working we might actually manage to figure out some sort of plan better."

Ayumi stood up. "Sounds good to me." The other two just followed suit, unwilling to say anything more. More than anything they felt a slight betrayal at how Kagome had never actually told them about this. And they were just as unwilling to admit that they could see why she had never told them about it.

"Why don't you three go to the hot springs to take a bath?" Sango suggested as she saw the pensive looks on the girls' faces. She wanted the three strangers to relax a bit before they began to search for a solution to their problems. And she wanted to have some alone time with Kagome.

"That's a great idea." Ayumi enthused, looking forward to taking a bath. It didn't seem as if the people in the feudal era washed as often as she was used to so she would jump at any chance that was offered.

"Why not?" Yuka smiled as she looked at Eri placatingly.

"Okay." Eri finally caved in, the temptation of a hot bath being too hard to resist. And so the three of them settled into the hot springs while Kagome went back to settle into the routine of the work at the village.

"How do you think we'll get them back?" Miroku questioned her as he forced a tired-looking Sango to sit down while he proceeded with her job of hanging up the washing.

"I have no idea." Kagome replied, confusion layered in her voice. "I don't even know how they got here. As far as I knew, only me and Inuyasha were able to cross that boundary between the two eras."

"Well they can't stay here. That much's for sure." Inuyasha said, knowing full well that while Kagome had been able to adjust to the feudal era, her friends would probably not be able to. Kagome was a special case after all.

Suddenly he stiffened as he caught the whiff of the scent almost the same time as the dreaded person in question appeared at the other end of the clearing.

"Inuyasha. What is going on here?" Sesshomaru was marching across the meadow at a surprisingly slow speed. That did not diminish the agression that was prevalent in his expression though.

"Sesshomaru." All of them looked at his older brother in surprise.

"Really, I'm sure that the boys were just being a little out of their limits my lord. No harm was intended for Rin in what they were saying." Jaken was trying to desperately calm the aggitated demon lord down. To no avail as always. "And Kohaku is exchanging some words with them as we speak, I'm sure he will handle everything." Despite the reassuring words that he was trying to transmit, the imp was keeping a suspiciously large distance between himself and his master.

Just as Sesshomaru took another step forward a female voice behind them called out. "Sesshomaru, wait!" But if the person ever had anything else to say was not to be found out because in that precise second Sesshomaru suddenly let out a surprised shout as he was seemingly flung straight across the meadow at a figure that was hurtling at him at around the same speed.

Now Jaken truly ran back and hid behind Ah-Un as Kohaku came out of the trees himself.

"You dimwit!" A distinctly angry voice came from somewhere out of the pile that was Sesshomaru and the other person. "Didn't I tell you? Ten metres! No more than ten metres! If this happens one more time because of you then I swear I won't care whether I die or not, I will kill you!" A petite woman sat up and then got up, stomping over to the nearest tree and then throwing herself against it, sitting down. Inuyasha swore he could see literal sparks fly out of her eyes as she glared at Sesshomaru getting up with as much dignity as possible.

"Sesshomaru, what was...?" His question was answered by a large growl and he decided, for his own safety as well as everyone else's who was present at the meadow, that he should under no circumstances what-so-ever continue in that direction with the conversation.

"I am going to kill your mother." The woman that was resting against the tree spat out.

"So am I." Sesshomaru looked like he was in complete agreement with that idea. It was all the answer Inuyasha needed. If his stepmother was involved in some sort of fashion then he most definitely would not be.

Turning back to them, Sesshomaru seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Why are you here Lord Sesshomaru?" Miroku queried, knowing full well that the Lord was not expected for at least another month.

"We saw that strange light last night." The woman answered instead and all eyes swivelled to her as she began to retie her hair. "We came because he wanted to know what it was." She jabbed her head in the general direction of Sesshomaru.

"Hn." Sesshomaru had decided to grace them with his typical muteness once more. What threw them off though was the way with which he cocked his head to the side slightly, sniffing the air.

"Inuyasha..." Suddenly his tone sounded deadly once more. "Please explain to me why exactly you all smell like you have the Taishou crest upon you."

"We have what?" Everyone's eyes turned on Sesshomaru, feeling like that had been hit on the head.


	4. Discoveries

_ A/N: First off I'd like to thank **James Birdsong** and **LifeandFire25** for their reviews on chapter three. Thank you, it means a lot that you guys leave a note. =) I'd also like to thank anyone who added this story or author to their lists, thank you. =)  
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_ And the plot thickens... In this chapter some hints are given towards a future plot line which will likely span quite a fair amount of this book. And of course, the mystery around the Taishou Crest and how it came to be should be solved too during the course of that. ;)  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 4 - Discoveries**

"We have what?" Miroku felt himself go numb at Sesshomaru's statement. Whatever that meant, it wasn't something good. Not only because of the fact that Sesshomaru was glaring at them like they were once again standing in his way but also because he had a creeping suspicion that there was more to bearing the Taishou crest than just possessing it.

"What does that mean Sesshomaru?" Sango asked careful, well aware that they were walking on thin ice when it came to Sesshomaru's patience. Especially where it concerned Inuyasha or them.

"That's Lord Sesshomaru to you!" Jaken called out. He was prevented from making any further comments by the fist that quickly connected with his head leaving a growing bump.

The strange woman that had appeared with Sesshomaru glared down at Jaken who was now sitting beside her. "Be quiet Jaken." If the situation were not so dire, Miroku swore that he could have seen Kohaku's mouth twitch slightly as if meaning to smile.

"It means that you are now a part of the clan." Sesshomaru bit out, obviously not very happy with this predicament. "How did you add them to the clan Inuyasha?" He turned on his brother, obviously intent on making him the one responsible for this. And to be perfectly honest, Sesshomaru was following through to a logical conclusion. Who else could have made them members of the clan and given them the Taishou Crest. The only flaw in this thinking was that Inuyasha didn't like the clan much, so why would he make them members?

"He couldn't have done it." They all turned to the strange woman as she leaned back further against the tree, seemingly lost in thought.

"Explain yourself Yukari." Sesshomaru kept his sentences short.

"Yes, and be more respectful to Lord Sesshomaru!" That earned Jaken a second bump on the head and he scuttled away to hide behind one of Ah-Un's legs.

"He isn't a full member of the clan." That statement surprised both Sesshomaru and Inuyasha.

"What do you mean?" Miroku asked, knowing that he was probably going to be the most diplomatic out of the lot of them.

"Yeah, I don't get that." Kagome said quietly. "His father was Inu no Taishou so shouldn't he technically be part of the clan?" Miroku smiled at Kagome, trust her to try and voice the obviously logical thing which normally stayed unsaid. By the two brothers at least.

"It's not that simple." The woman named Yukari answered, her eyes becoming clear again. "What needs to happen is the inauguration ceremony. Yes Inuyasha is the son of the late General, but his mother was a human so most of the clan refused him immediate entry." She bowed her head apologetically towards Inuyasha. "His father had left behind instructions for Inuyasha to partake the ceremony but Lady Izayoi refused at the time, saying that Inuyasha should choose for himself whether or not he wished to be part of the clan when he was old enough to decide. After that it kind of was forgotten. It was assumed by many that he simply was and the elders never brought it up, they didn't want to have him join, most of them bearing heavy prejudices towards both humans and hanyou."

"Who is she again?" Inuyasha turned to his brother.

A heavy sigh escaped Sesshomaru's lips. "She's one of my mother's main servants, Yukari Tenshi."

"Oh." That seemed to explain it all to Inuyasha. Yukari allowed herself a brief glare in their direction.

"And without being a full member he cannot add members towards the clan, no matter how hard he tried." Yukari was obviously pointedly ignoring the exchange between the brothers. "Which means that someone else, a full member, must have added them." She turned towards the group that was standing opposite Sesshomaru. "But that is impossible. No member of the clan would have added humans or Inuyasha to the clan with all due apologies of course." She looked contrite for having had to say something like that. "Would you mind if I see one of them?" She stood up and stopped when she stood beside Sesshomaru.

"Of course not." Sango said as she stepped forward. Miroku began to protest and she proceeded to talk right over those protests. "Where are they?"

Yukari stepped forward too. "They should be on one of your shoulder blades. That's where they normally are and that is also why you probably haven't seen them yet." Sango pulled down one side of her kimono slightly and turned around. Right there, on the top of her right shoulder blade was a the crest that Sesshomaru had mentioned. It was pulsing slightly and shone a soft light, somewhere between a light lilac or pink.

"That light..." Inuyasha began, a realisation beginning to dawn on him.

"It looks exactly like the light we saw before Kagome and her friends appeared." Miroku said softly, the meadow suddenly having gone silent.

"It also looks like the light that appeared around me before I came here." Kagome mused, appearing deep in thought.

"Who else has it?" Yukari turned around, looking imploringly at the others. They proceeded to check their shoulders. All of them possessed it, even Kirara and Shippo. "What about those friends you mentioned? Do they have it?" Yukari turned to Kagome.

"Eri and Yuka don't. I saw them just a while back in the hot springs and they didn't have it. I don't know about Ayumi though..." She trailed off, uncertainty written all over her face.

"This is bad." Kohaku finally came forth from the woods.

"I think that's just a slight understatement." Kagome murmered sarcastically, not too happy about it all. Sesshomaru just growled.

"Kohaku!" Sango rushed forward to hug her brother. Miroku ran after her again, having the feeling that worry for her would soon become etched onto his face. She was pregnant, couldn't she just remain in one place for more than just a few minutes?

"Sango." Kohaku hugged her carefully, knowing that his brother-in-law was about to have a fit due to his concern over his sister's well-being.

"So what do we do?" Inuyasha turned to his brother, their constant fighting forgotten for once.

"We obviously need to inform your clan or something. Otherwise this could turn out a lot worse." Kagome looked at Inuyasha like it was painfully obvious. "Maybe even inform your stepmother or something."

Both Sesshomaru and Inuyasha froze. "Bad idea Kagome, that's a really bad idea." Inuyasha said with a small amount of fear in his eyes.

"I agree." Sesshomaru was agreeing with him?

"I'm gonna kill her..." Yukari muttered darkly, lost in some sort of fantasy where she was strangling the living daylights out of the former Lady of the West for making her stuck to Sesshomaru.

"Hn." Sesshomaru was back to monosyllables.

"Back to why we came here though. So that light was you and your friends coming here?" Yukari was once again doing the talking. Nobody else seemed inclined to do so.

"Yeah, that was us." Kagome nodded and was surprised when some sort of knowing light went off in her eyes.

"That explains the temporal shift that's here..." Yukari trailed off and stared intently at some spot in the sky.

"Temporal what?" Inuyasha looked confused. To be fair, everyone apart from Kagome looked confused at the terminology used too.

"That sounds like something someone from my time would say." Kagome looked at Yukari with a renewed interest.

"It's just what I call the ribbon that appears when someone travels through time. A dimensional shift is the ribbon that appears when you travel through different places." At least she looked like she knew what she was talking about.

"A ribbon?" Kagome squinted at the sky.

"Yeah, a ribbon." Yukari pointed at some spot in the sky. "I seem to be one of the few who can see it though. While it's still present you can still use it to send something back to where it came from."

"Really?" Now Miroku looked at her closely. Maybe this was how they could get Kagome's friends back to their time.

"Mhmm." Yukari was still studying the sky.

"Maybe your friends could get back to their time like that." Sango turned to Kagome in excitement. "And they could even take a message for your family across!" Somehow it never occured to anyone that it seemed obvious that Kagome would remain. Even Kagome hadn't thought of going back, she had finally arrived here, she didn't want to go back so soon.

"Could you use this tempo... what-ever to send people through?" Shippo jumped up and down in excitement.

"It should be possible. I don't see why not." Yukari turned her full attention back to them. "How many?"

"Three."

"That should be fine then." She smiled and turned to Sesshomaru. "We're staying here a bit longer, I want to help these people. And you can spend some extra time with Rin." Sesshomaru just sighed in response. "And we still have to solve this mystery about the Taishou Crest and how come your brother and his friends possess it."

"Fine." Sesshomaru started to walk towards the village and Yukari, Jaken and Kohaku ran after him. Ah-Un just followed at its own sedate pace, knowing that they would be spending a considerable amount of time in the village this time around.

"See you in the village!" Yukari waved quickly before the group vanished over the hill, Kohaku doing the same.

"Kagome, why don't you find your friends and meet us at Kaede's? The sooner they get back the better." Miroku steadied Sango as she swayed slightly. "We'll meet you in the village." Kagome nodded.

"Wait Kagome, I'll come with you." Inuyasha zapped forward quickly to walk beside her and both began to make their way towards the hot springs. As Shippo ran to catch up with them he already heard Kagome telling him about an acceptable distance at which he would have to stay away from the springs and his light complaints in return. Shaking his head he heard the ever so famous "Sit Boy!" as Inuyasha crashed to the ground. That guy would never learn, of that Shippo was absolutely sure.

~.~.~.~.~

"Hachoo!" Lady Taishou sneezed delicately and the bubble within her and Rina were still floating swayed up and down. Rina held her hand to her mouth. While she didn't mind flying, she did mind turbulences or any sudden movements. She got sick whenever they went on some sort of vehicle or boat that moved in any kind of unpredictable manner, this swaying bubble being no exception.

"Is something wrong Lady Taishou?" Rina inquired, knowing full well that taiyoukai as good as never got sick.

"Someone must be gossiping about me." She muttered, a dark expression coming onto her face.

"Probably your sons." Rina settled back into the comfortable air pocket that she'd been in before.

"Hmpf." Rina chuckled slightly, she and Lady Taishou both knew it to be true. Who else would talk about her? Everyone in the palace lived in a nearly permanent fear of the abilities that she possessed. Many servants and nobles alike had sworn that she had ears and eyes everywhere, knowing about everything that went on. That could be attributed to either Rina or Yukari being somewhere close by though.

Lady Taishou suddenly perked up and sniffed at the air around them. "I feel like I recognise this scent..." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. She had smelled this scent once before and it bode no good. Rina carefully lifted her nose and smelled the air herself. She shivered. Whatever it was it smelled like pure evil.

"We need to speed up. If this scent is what I think it is then we most definitely have to tell my son and stepson." Suddenly the bubble zoomed on, an urgency being there that hadn't been before.

Staring out at the setting sun, Rina shivered once more. She hoped that Yukari was safe. She'd never smelled or even sensed such pure evil as she had in that brief moment when they had been flying over the abandoned village.


	5. The ribbon

_ A/N: First I'd like to thank_ **_Nizuna Fujieda_**_ for her review on chapter four as well as anyone who has put this story or its author on their lists. Thank you, the support is greatly appreciated. =)_

_This chapter is quite a bit longer than the others, I hope you enjoy it. It is also quite a bit emotional... so be prepared... ;)_

_ Please Read and Review! =P ;D_

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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 5 - The 'ribbon'**

Still clutching his head Inuyasha grumbled. He didn't know why Kagome had made him 'sit'. All he had been trying to say was that he didn't want her wandering off on her own. Whoever had made them part of the clan against their will could still be out there. Shippo's sympathetic face certainly hadn't helped his bruised ego.

"Keh." He turned his head away, not even trying to hide his annoyance.

"So you're saying that this person could help us all get back?" Eri was trying to squash the hope that was rising in her heart. It would hurt too much if it didn't work.

"Yeah." Kagome nodded. "She said that she could use what got us here to send you back."

"What about you Kagome?" Yuka turned to her friend, noting that Kagome's statement hadn't included her going back. It worried her.

"I want to stay here." Kagome quickly interjected before Inuyasha said anything. She knew that if push came to pull then Inuyasha would let her go but not before fervently protesting against it.

"What?" Eri stopped, disbelief colouring both her voice and her face. "You want to stay _here_?"

"Why not?" Kagome replied defensively. It hurt her to see her friend react as she had.

"Why would you want to stay in a place like this?" Eri gestured all around herself.

"Eri, it's her decision." Ayumi said gently, putting her hand on her friend's arm. She knew that Eri didn't approve of Inuyasha or Kagome's relationship with him. She had also been complaining about their situation the whole morning. She didn't see why Eri was looking at their situation so critically though. She for one loved it here so far and she felt like she didn't want to go back to the modern era. Things were so much more simple here. Before she had had school, but now she only had her friends waiting on the other side for her. She quickly quelled the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. She needed to keep her thoughts away from drifting in that direction. She'd only break down in tears again.

"Oh yeah." Yuka looked as if she had just remembered something. "Do you know if that weird travelling could have changed us somehow?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome's forhead crinkled in confusion.

"What she means is that could this have happened due to the travelling?" Ayumi showed Kagome the top of her shoulder blade while Inuyasha and Shippo respectfully looked away.

"Oh my god..." Kagome spun around to face Inuyasha. "Ayumi has the Taishou Crest too."

"What?" Inuyasha turned around again, this time it was his voice that was coloured with disbelief.

"How is that even possible?" Shippo jumped onto Kagome's shoulder. She's not even a part of our group here."

"What do you mean?" Ayumi turned to Kagome, desperately wanting to know what was going on. She had shown Eri and Yuka in secrecy, not wanting Kagome to worry, but to be honest, she was just as worried as the other two herself. If not even more so since she was the one who actually had this strange tattoo.

"All of us who live here in this era, plus Kagome, found these strange tattooes this morning. My brother said that it's the crest of my father's family. We don't know how they got there, it's a complete mystery to him and his companions as well." Inuyasha explained, knowing that it wouldn't satisfy them.

"One of Sesshomaru's companions is quite knowledgable about it all. We're hoping that she will be able to tell us more once we get back to Kaede's place." Kagome picked up her speed and so did all the others.

"Let's hurry then." Eri said, practically dragging Ayumi behind her, her mouth set in a thin line.

~.~.~.~.~

Yukari was just helping herself to some food as four girls, plus Inuyasha and Shippo burst into Lady Kaede's hut. One of them was Kagome, the other three she hadn't seen before. The sudden commotion made her drop her spoon with the hot soup in it. She swore silently in her head as she rushed to the bucket of water that stood in the corner, dipping her hand in to cool her burn. Thankfully Sesshomaru remained within ten metres the whole time, he was outside, sitting against a tree and she knew it would have looked exceptionally weird if both of them had flown across the place.

Curse that necklace. She looked down at the small thing hanging around her neck. When Lady Taishou had given it to her she hadn't thought much of it, she had simply assumed that it was one of the presents for Sesshomaru along with the letter. She had taken it with her and given it to him and when he had touched it a strange spark had occured between the two of them. And since he absolutely refused to have this 'curse' anywhere near him she had taken to wearing it. The strange amulet seemed to fly off of an invisible barrier and back into their hands whenever they tried to rid themselves of it.

She allowed herself a small glare towards the group that had just entered the hut and stuck her tongue out at Sesshomaru when she saw his smirk from his postition on the tree. She went back to nursing her hand, thinking about the other conditions that came with the necklace. The most important one of course was that didn't seem to be able to be more than ten metres away from each other. Right now he was about four metres away, the tree being quite close to the hut. That was another strange thing. They always roughly knew the distance to the other person, even though the curse had only been with them for two days. She guessed her instincts and subconscious disliked flying five metres across the place and crashing into Sesshomaru as much as his did. And the other condition was that if he killed her or vice-versa, then the other person would also die. She also knew that one of them would already be dead if it wasn't for that rule.

"You can really send us back?" Yukari pulled herself out of her thoughts and back to the present as she looked at one of the girls which had hope written all across her face.

"I believe so." She said as she turned back to her stinging hand. Drat it, it really hurt.

"What exactly is the Taishou Crest?" One of the other girls stepped forward. "I'm Ayumi Okada by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you." Yukari decided immediately that she liked this girl.

Not taking her hand out of the cooling water she sniffed the air around the girl called Ayumi. "You have it on you, don't you?" It wasn't as much of a question as it was a statement.

The girl's eyes widened. She nodded quickly.

"The Taishou Crest is the sign that you belong to the Taishou clan. It gives you a certain amount of privileges." Sesshomaru entered the hut, moving towards the window not wanting to be crushed by what seemed to be a large amount of people. Of course, the hut was only small, the amounts of people not really much. Behind him Miroku, Sango and Kirara entered as well, closely followed by Kohaku and Rin, the former giving a shout of happiness as she spied Sesshomaru.

"Cryptic as ever. Thank you for your detailed explanation." Sarcasm lay heavy in Yukari's voice as she turned to Sesshomaru. Inuyasha and Kagome looked at each other, both sporting raised eyebrows at Yukari's attitude towards the demon lord. Neither had ever seen or even expected anyone to treat the inuyoukai with anything but respect, and most of the time, fear.

Turning back to the gathered audience Yukari cleared her throat. "Basically the Taishou Crest does two things. One, it shows that you are part of the clan. Two, it extends your life by an inevitable amount of time."

The ones who were now sporting the referred to crest gulped. "By how much time?" Kagome asked tentavitely, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer. Inuyasha glowered at the pear that was sitting on the table, not trusting himself to do much else. His temper was about to snap.

"I'm not exactly sure." Yukari shrugged her shoulders. "I don't have one myself since I'm only a servant at the castle but Lord Inu no Taishou lived for about fifteen hundred years before dying. And he didn't even die a natural death. If he hadn't been so injured from his last battle then he probably wouldn't have died for a long time yet."

"So you're basically saying that we could live for several hundred if not thousand years before dying a natural death." Miroku wasn't liking the way things looked at the moment. Up until three years ago he had lived with the constant fear that his wind tunnel would swallow him up the next day, and now he had to contend with living for hundreds if not for thousands of years?

"Yeah." Yukari pulled her hand out of the water, sighed, and promptly stuck it back in again. "Most members of the clan do not possess the crest though since they are already inuyoukai or inu taiyoukai and therefore live for hundreds of years unaided by the crest. It has pretty much been forgotten by all."

"And you have one?" Inuyasha turned to his brother, anger burning brightly in his eyes.

"Father made me go through the ceremony when I was barely three. It was a time of great turbulence and he didn't want to leave anything up to chance." Sesshomaru said quietly, for once understanding the emotions that were flowing through his brother's eyes. Once he had been old enough to understand he had resented the choice his father had made himself. Even demons didn't want to live forever. Or what was percieved to be forever at least.

"If you have the crest though I cannot send you back." Yukari addressed what she thought was the biggest trouble at that moment. "You would basically outlive everyone and without the proper counselling and help you wouldn't be able to cope with it." She looked at Ayumi sadly. "As well as that everyone you know will age and you won't. Nobody will be able to accept that. At least not in any good way." Ayumi nodded sadly at that statement. She had been expecting as much when this woman has said that she wouldn't be able to send her back. It was only logical.

"What do you mean you can't send her back? She can't just stay here, she doesn't even belong here!" Eri seemed to be panicking and Yuka didn't seem much better off herself. Ayumi decided to stop them before they said something irrevocable.

"It's fine Eri, really." She smiled at her friend sadly. "There's not much waiting for me in the modern era and you know it." Eri swallowed uncomfortably, she hadn't wanted to touch on the subject that Ayumi was about to touch on.

"You have us." Yuka said quietly, sadness present in her soft eyes.

"I know and I'm forever thankful for that." A tear ran down Ayumi's face. "But my parents are dead and my brother blames me for it. There's nothing I can do. And my sister supports that view. She's even cut me off from the inheritance. Anyway, he'll be safe with her. She'll take care of him and you can always keep an eye out for him too. And if I'll really live as long as this woman says then I'll see you all again, right?" Ayumi blinked through the tears that were rolling down her face. The pain from her parent's death was still fresh, it uprooted her everytime she thought about it. Without her really noticing it, everyone left the small hut apart from Eri, Yuka and Kagome.

"You will." Yuka had started to cry in earnest too, the tears rolling down her face as well.

"Yuka!" Eri exclaimed in shock. "You can't seriously believe that she'll be staying here?"

"She has no choice. And she's right you know. She doesn't have much apart from us waiting for her at home. And we'll still be waiting so you'd better still be around in five hundred years time." Yuka hugged Ayumi tightly, so tightly that Ayumi thought she wouldn't be able to breathe. But she didn't mind, she was doing exactly the same to her.

And soon everything had broken down, all four girls were hugging each other and crying, knowing that for two of them, it would be a very long time before they saw each other again.

~.~.~.~.~

"So you're both ready?" Yukari looked down at her bandaged hand before looking at the two girls standing in front of her. It had taken the four of them a long time to say good-bye to each other and the sun was beginning to set on the horizon. Sesshomaru wasn't looking particularily pleased about something. She sighed heavily. But that was only to be expected, when was the idiot pleasant to be around after all?

"Yes we are." The girl named Yuka nodded, Eri deciding to stay mute beside her. She was still against Kagome and Ayumi staying here and resented the fact that they were quite heavily.

"Okay then. Let's start, shall we?" Yukari stopped as she saw Kagome and Ayumi step forward. "Is something wrong?"

"No, we just wanted to ask Yuka and Eri something." Kagome flashed a quick smile at her before making her way towards her two waiting friends. Yukari shrugged showing that Kagome could go ahead. She hadn't erected the barrier around them yet so they could go ahead and ask whatever they wanted to.

"Could you give these letters to my sister and brother?" Ayumi held out two letters. With a shaking hand Eri took it. Whether that hand was shaking from anxiety or anger, no one could be one hundred percent certain of.

"Yeah and could you please take this to my family?" Kagome held out several letters herself and Yuka took them.

"Of course we will." Yuka smiled at her two friends knowing that they would need as much reassurance as they did.

"Okay we're all done here." Kagome and Ayumi took several steps back. Inuyasha pulled Kagome back even further despite her protests for further safety.

"I'll start then." Yukari stepped forward and held out both her hands towards the girls and began to concentrate a part of her energy onto her hands. She knew it was working when she heard Sango gasp behind her. Yes, and there it was, her inner energy flowing through her hands. They were shining a bright green and even Sesshomaru looked surprised. She let the smirk flow freely onto her face.

Walking forward she put her hands in front of her and from them a bubble was formed. That bubble then began to float towards the two girls and envelloped them, the bright green light eminating from the bubble before turning into a mixture of peach and light blue. She smiled, the colour conversions never ceasing to fascinate her. Turning her head towards the sky she concentrated on where she saw the temporal shift or 'ribbon' as she had called it before. Having found it she muttered three words in an ancient language she herself didn't understand and the ribbon of light purple and pink appeared, streaking across the sky above the village in beautiful patterns.

Lifting her hands the bubble with Yuka and Eri inside it rose with the movements her hands made and slowly the bubble closed in onto the ribbon until it was just a few metres away. No more words escaped the mouths of the group around her, they were all stunned into silence.

Pushing her hands forward the bubble finally floated into the ribbon and in a bright flash of light the ribbon twirled around and around until it was gone along with the bubble. Muttering the three closing words she lowered her hands, the green light from her energy vanishing along with the descent of her hands. When it was all finished exhaustion raced through her and she could barely keep herself from falling. Sesshomaru caught her and she allowed herself a brief smile of thanks before she passed out.

~.~.~.~.~

"They're actually gone." Kagome looked out into the night sky with tears beginning to brim in her eyes. She found it hard to believe that it would be five hundred years before she could see her family again. If she didn't die before that that was.

"They'll be fine." Inuyasha said softly as he settled down in the grass besides her. In complete unision they leaned back until they were lying on the slightly wet grass, staring up at the star-bespecked sky.

"Yeah, I hope so." Kagome sounded extremely wistful.

"Stop worrying so much wench, I'm sure they'll be fine." Inuyasha smiled at the use of his nickname of her, he knew that it annoyed her to no end.

Kagome snorted softly but decided not to say anything about the name he had used. She knew that he was just as worried as she was.

"Sesshomaru said that he and his group are leaving tomorrow again. He said that there was something important he has to check out." Inuyasha informed her, not sure of what to say when a slightly awkward silence had descended upon them.

"Yukari will kill him if he tries to leave too early." Kagome said, a smile flitting across her face. Those two were a mystery to her, she had no idea as to why one of Inuyasha's stepmother's main servants would be travelling with Sesshomaru. It made no sense to her at least.

"She certainly is a mystery that one. I don't think I've ever seen him actually carry anyone but Rin." Inuyasha chuckled, his brother's reaction having surprised all of them.

Kagome laughed slightly. "Yeah, never thought I would see the day too. He still despises her though."

"And she him." Inuyasha and Kagome caught each other's eye and smiled and somehow almost automatically moved towards one another. Gently she put her head on his chest, suddenly unsure again of what to do.

Kagome's scent immediately flooded over Inuyasha, nearly overwhelming him. Trying to keep a rein on the emotions he didn't quite understand himself he carefully put his hand on her head and stroked her hair. In response she sighed softly and snuggled closer to him. He wasn't sure when and how, but somewhere along the way Kagome had become an irreplaceable part of his life.

From the window of her and Miroku's hut Sango smiled at the pair by the river.

"What exactly are they doing?" Miroku got up from his position by the fire. Taking one look at her husband, Sango knew it would be wrong to let him to the window, he would tease Inuyasha forever about it. Thankfully Shippo was already safe asleep at Kaede's, otherwise she would have to worry about the mischievous fox demon too.

"Nothing Miroku, nothing at all. Let's go back to the fire, it's so nice and warm there." Settling down on a fuuton comfortably, Sango leaned against Miroku. Gently he put his arm around her and pulled her close. Soon both had fallen into a deep sleep marked only by the rise and fall of both of their chests.


	6. Visitors

_ A/N: First off I'd like to thank **Nizuna Fujieda** for her review on chapter 5, thank you. =) I'd also like to thank anyone who added this story or it's author to their lists, thanks again. =)_

_ Here the story really gets going and the main plot is properly introduced. Enjoy! =D  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 6 - Visitors**

Waking up that morning as the sun streamed onto her face Kagome sighed softly and snuggled more deeply into the warmth that was right next to her. Contentment washed through her and she felt like she never wanted to wake up. It was around that time that she began to remember roughly what the warmth next to her could be. And shot straight up, all thoughts of more sleep having fled from her head.

And sure enough it was Inuyasha next to her. He grumbled slightly and reached out to where she had been before, also missing the previous warmth that had been there. Getting up ever so quietly she made her way towards Kaede's hut and slipped into the small room that made up the whole living space. Thankfully no one awoke so unless Inuyasha mentioned something or even remembered in the first place, everyone would think that she had slept here the whole night. All of her thoughts flew around like hornets in her head. Had she really enjoyed sleeping next to Inuyasha that much? And then immediately coloured when other connotations with that sentence arose. Miroku was most definitely _never_ finding out. And Sango would never be allowed to tell Miroku. Or Shippo for that matter. Or even remind or ask Inuyasha about it.

Holding her head she gave up all pretenses of sleep when Yukari got up, the young woman obviously having recovered from the hardship from the day before. She looked extremely well rested.

"Do you feel any better?" Kagome turned her body to face the woman as she drank some water.

Taking another sip Yukari nodded. "Yeah, I feel much better already. It just always takes a lot of effort when I use those powers. At least if I use them for temporal or dimensional travel." She smiled down at Kagome. "We'll be leaving this morning though, probably within the next couple of hours so I'm hoping I can get some stocks before we leave again. Sesshomaru might be able to survive on raw meat alone but Kohaku and I most certainly can't."

Kagome laughed. "And Jaken and Ah-Un?"

"Ah-Un's a herbivore so that's all covered and Jaken eats whatever he can find I guess. At least I've never really seen him actively partake in a meal that anyone else has created." Yukari's brow furrowed in though, obviously thinking about what Jaken didn't and did eat.

"Yeah that's true." Kagome smiled again as she got up, all thoughts of sleep now thrown away. She had to get ready too. She was the miko in residence now after all.

~.~.~.~.~

Two hours later found the whole group united once more, standing outside at the outskirts of the village looking into the distance.

"So he's gone then?" Inuyasha turned to Kagome, she had been the only one awake when Sesshomaru and his group had left.

She nodded. "Yup. They left about an hour ago."

"So that bastard just up and left again, did he?" Inuyasha growled. Now he remembered why he couldn't stand Sesshomaru again.

"Well I guess we should have expected it." Miroku sighed as he saw his friend's angry face. Sesshomaru just wouldn't change he guessed.

"But he did leave this." Kagome held up a letter after taking it out of her miko robes. "Here you go." She handed it to Inuyasha. "He told me to give it to you."

Expectantly Inuyasha opened the letters and quickly scanned over it, the others standing behind him and reading over his shoulders.

"He wants us to come to the Taishou castle in a few months time after his travels so that he can introduce us to the clan." Sango looked slightly dazed.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Miroku asked Inuyasha as he helped Sango sit down. The pregnancy was beginning to wear her out.

"I don't think we have any choice." Inuyasha grumbled as he looked at the letter. He knew better than anyone else what happened when the clan got upset. And the clan would most definitely be upset by this. Especially the clan elders.

"There's more." Kagome squinted at the last paragraph at the bottom. "He said that he would come and collect us after taking care of something." Her brow furrowed. "He also said that he would try to find out what has caused the crest to appear on us."

"Keh. Trust him to say that. He probably just wants to find some way to reverse it." Inuyasha muttered. He obviously was pretty annoyed about the whole affair himself. Miroku had the sneaking suspicion that Inuyasha had been planning to do what Sesshomaru was doing right now. And he was probably more annoyed about the fact that Sesshomaru had done so before him rather than being annoyed about Sesshomaru leaving.

Kagome glanced sideways at Inuyasha. "Well there's nothing we can do about it. I mean we could go out and search for the person who did this ourselves but that wouldn't work with Sango being pregnant."

"I'm sorry." Sango looked regretful.

"Why? There's nothing you should be sorry about. I was just saying that it would be very inconsiderate of us if we did." Kagome reassured her friend quickly.

"Thank you Kagome." A tear rolled down Sango's cheek.

"Sango?" Miroku asked, completely confused now.

"It's nothing." Sango waved her hand quickly and wiped the tear away.

"Pregnant women." Inuyasha muttered.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome's voice took on a dangerous ring. "Sit boy!"

"He'll never learn." Shippo said wisely and nodded his head wisely. She rolled her eyes back at him. Both of them were in strong agreement about this.

"What did he say?" Sango and Miroku turned to Kagome as she began to stamp off.

"Nothing." She bit off, marching towards the village.

"Ow..." Inuyasha began to get up. He was distracted from the pain of making a new crater in the ground as he caught a scent in the wind. It wasn't one he particularily liked. "It couldn't be..." He growled just as a whirlwind raced past him.

"My sweetest and most fairest Kagome." Suddenly Koga was on the ground in front of Kagome on one knee, holding one of her hands as he reached down and kissed it.

"Wolf..." Inuyasha was growling dangerously.

Koga completely ignored him. "How long have I waited to catch a whiff of your scent. I knew that if I waited long enough I would be able to see your beautiful face again..." And on went the round of compliments. Kagome seemed to be temporarily stunned into silence. It had, after all, been quite some time since Koga had appeared in front of her so spontaneously.

"Isn't he married?" Shippo turned to Miroku.

"I thought he was..." Miroku trailed off, attempting to keep the amusement off of his face. Inuyasha was still suffering from the after effects of the spell and trying with all his might to get up.

"Mew!" Kirara had seemed to think so too.

"Koga!" A shout behind them made them all turn around. Kagome seemed to wake up, shaking her head viciously.

"He is married." Sango smirked as Ayame arrived at the place where they were all gathered.

"What do you think you're doing?" She looked absolutely furious.

"Koga!" Another shout made them turn around. Ginta and Hakkaku were arriving several minutes after their leader as usual. In Kagome it called forth a nostalgic feeling.

"Ayame!" Hakkaku panted as he came to a stop along with Ginta. Several wolves collapsed on the ground around them. Miroku didn't want to know how long they had been running for.

"Koga. Ayame. And Ginta and Hakkaku. It's so good to see you all again." Kagome smiled, happy tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"It has been too long my sweet Kagome..." Koga began once more.

"Koga..." Twin voiced growled out his name. One of them was Ayame as she had her hands fisted at her side. The other was Inuyasha as he lunged at Koga.

"Get your hands off her you manky wolf!" Koga danced around Inuyasha as the former lunged at him again and again with his claws.

"Mutt, I guess it's good to see you again." Koga stopped at what he percieved to be a safe distance from Inuyasha. He forgot all about Ayame.

"Koga!" Now she lunged at him and got him by the ear. In what seemed to be a very painful position she pulled him across the meadow by the ear. Soon they were out of sight. The demons present winced though at the dressing down she was giving him. Sometimes it would be better not to have such enhanced hearing.

"Wasn't that Ayame?" Kagome turned to the others present.

"Yup." Ginta nodded. "She and Koga are married now."

"I'm sorry Kagome." Hakkaku truly did look sorry.

"Why should you be?" Kagome looked confused. She was happy that Ayame and Koga had finally gotten together, in her opinion they always had belonged together.

"Didn't you love Koga?" Ginta wasn't one to be particularily tactful at that moment in time. He was still out of breath from having to run after Koga and Ayame for the past two days non-stop alongside Hakkaku.

Kagome's face turned bright red and the others all shuffled in embarrassment. It had only ever been the wolf demon tribe who had thought so. Everyone else had seen that Kagome had already given her heart to a certain hanyou.

"Um... not...not really." She managed to stutter out, unsure of how to tell her two friends that she hadn't been in love with their leader despite their convictions that she had been. "I mean, I love him as a friend... but nothing more!" She quickly blurted out, not wanting to hurt anybody's feelings. She still had a soft and caring heart after all and she was pretty sure that Koga was listening with at least one of his ears. Ayame probably still had the other one in tight control.

Miroku just sighed tiredly. He guessed that the wolf demons would never learn. Kagome would never admit it to anyone but Sango that she was in love with Inuyasha, but to the rest of them it was as clear as day. Even to Koga, which was probably one of the reasons why he couldn't stand Inuyasha as much as he did. Miroku was pretty sure that Koga thought that he was still the better option for Kagome, despite being married. He guessed that some loves just wouldn't die. But the same went to both Kagome and Inuyasha. He and Sango should just conspire against the two to admit their feelings for each other outright. It was infuriating watching his two friends being so stubborn about their admissions to one another. He grinned to himself. That was actually a very good idea, he should propose it to Sango as soon as possible. She might disagree at first, due to her sense of honour and decorum, but she would eventually agree. He knew she would. She wanted those two together even more than he did.

Suddenly Inuyasha looked up at the sky, sniffing the air precariously. His ears twitched and his eyes widened as some sort of realisation seemed to hit him. Kagome was still stammering on in the background to the uncomprehending Ginta and Hakkaku that she did not, in fact, love their leader as they had percieved it.

"It can't be..." Inuyasha muttered in annoyance. There was no way in hell that he was picking up _her_ scent. As far as he knew, she never even left the castle that was situated in the mountains to the far west of here.

But just as he thought he had been imagining things a bright ball crashed into him and he yelped as he and the ball crashed into the nearest tree. It was just his luck to be assaulted by both that manky wolf and now this old hag as well. He guessed the good luck from yesterday just didn't want to stick around. At least now he knew why Sesshomaru had taken off so suddenly. If his brother had even suspected that this woman would be turning up then it truly was no wonder that he had wanted to leave straight away the evening before. He growled softly in annoyance. Sesshomaru could have _warned_ him at least.

Koga and Ayame immediately appeared in the meadow beside Ginta and Hakkaku. They had, of course, heard the crash and had immediately come to investigate.

"Oh, it's you." Inuyasha glowered up at the form of his stepmother. He and her had never been on especially good terms. One of the reasons being that she always tended to crash into him whenever she arrived. He swore that she did it just to annoy him. When she had done it the first time shortly after his mother's death, he had been perilously close to ripping her head off. He knew he wouldn't have stood the chance but at that moment in time his emotions had been exceptionally raw.

"Lady Taishou, I never fail to understand why exactly you do that." Another figure got up off the ground next to him and he was surprised to see a black inuyoukai. His stepmother was travelling with someone else now?

"Hmpf." His stepmother was obviously deciding to ignore that last statement of the demoness. "Inuyasha, it's good to see you again."

"The pleasure's all mine." He snapped out in annoyance.

"Inuyasha, who is that exactly?" Kagome asked carefully, seeing only too well his enraged features. The person, or to be more precise, demoness, who had crashed into Inuyasha was a small graceful demoness who surprisingly reminded her of Sesshomaru. They certainly bore the same crescent moon on their foreheads. Only that Sesshomaru's was a tad darker. And the other demon, who was quite a fair bit taller than the white-haired demoness, had called her 'Lady Taishou'. Could this be Sesshomaru's mother? Why then had he run?

"This here is my stepmother, Lady Satomi Taishou of the Western Lands." Inuyasha bit off. He just wanted her to go again. He had never been particularily comfortable around his eccentric, and most certainly slightly insane, stepmother.

"Oh pffsht, you make me sound so old. Just call me Lady Satomi." She smiled charmingly at the company around her and they all weren't certain whether they liked her or not. For one they had heard several stories from Inuyasha about her. And the wolf demons certainly didn't like her that much, especially Koga.

"Is my son somewhere around?" Lady Satomi looked around herself, trying to pick up the scent of her son. She had been sure that he had been here.

"He took off this morning with the rest of his group around about four hours ago." Inuyasha decided to grace her with an answer. The sooner she knew that Sesshomaru wasn't here, the sooner she was likely to leave.

"Was Yukari with him by any chance?" The other demoness looked at them imploringly, worry for her friend written in her eyes.

"That other woman?" Miroku asked.

Rina nodded her head up and down. Sesshomaru never travelled with anyone, much less a woman. It could only be Yukari.

"Yeah, there was another woman with him. They didn't seem to get along very well though." Miroku was perplexed at the smile that overcame both demoness' faces.

"It was her then." Lady Satomi nodded wisely.

"You be happy that she left with Sesshomaru, she would kill you for what you did if she were here." Rina turned indignantly to Lady Satomi who just waved her hand nonchalantly.

"Just let her try. Anyway it's not my fault that she was the one who delivered the present to Sesshomaru."

"You put her up for it." Rina retorted quickly.

"She'll get over it." Lady Satomi turned back to Inuyasha. The doubt in Rina's eyes spoke otherwise though. Yukari was known to hold a grudge if insulted deeply enough. And she was pretty sure that this time the insult had been deep enough.

"So he's left already then." Satomi turned to the horizon. "He must have sensed it too then." Her eyes held a faraway glance. The worry in them was what bothered Inuyasha.

"Sensed what?"

"The return of the one you call Naraku." Satomi whispered softly. Everyone stiffened. It had gone a deadly silent.

"What?" Inuyasha was incredulous, it couldn't be possible.

"But we killed him." Kagome declared indignantly. "I purified him myself."

"I truly don't know how, but on our way here we smelled him and sensed his growing prescence. Something has happened between that demon's journey between this world and the next. Something that disrupted his transition. He will be back once he has the power to do so. I believe that my son will try to vanquish him before it comes to that."

Her news left them all in a state of shock. Naraku couldn't be back. He couldn't. They had purified him, defeated him after running after him for such a long time. Naraku couldn't be back. If he was then they were all in danger again because that monster was sure to want his revenge for being defeated before. Inuyasha clenched his fist. Now he understood why Sesshomaru had wanted to leave so urgently. He had wanted to be the one to kill Naraku.

"I came here to bring those news, nothing more." With that Satomi turned away again and began to form an orb around herself and Rina. They had to be getting back to the castle.

"Wait!" Kagome called out. Satomi turned to her with amusement in her eyes. What could this human girl possibly want?

"Sesshomaru asked me to give this to the white-haired woman that would come looking for him. I think I'm right in assuming that it's you." Kagome handed her a missive which Satomi took gracefully. What would her son have to say to her?

She winced as she read the first page of the letter. In it he was mainly ranting on and on about the audacity of her to give him the present she had. She was pretty sure that a lot of it had come from Yukari too. The second page had her stare at it in shock though. She turned slowly to the others around her. "You are now a part of the clan?" Inuyasha winced. Why had his brother told his stepmother that again?

He nodded weakly, not being exactly sure what her reaction would be. He certainly didn't expect the wide grin that appeared on her face, revealing some of her fangs.

"Rina, come on we have to hurry back to the castle. We have to get everything ready for their appearance and introduction to court!" They all stared at her in horror, the demoness called Rina included.

"What?" Sango echoed the thoughts of everyone present.

"Well now that you are part of the clan it is my duty to ensure your successful entry into court. Don't worry I will take care of all of it. I may have to send Rina back though to take some measurements so that we can make you some fine clothes..." Lady Satomi turned away musing and rumbling and suddenly the sphere formed around her and Rina. "Come on, we have to hurry now!" She exclaimed and they zoomed off. Shippo swore that the poor dark-haired demoness looked slightly ill at the sudden motion.

"We're in trouble. She's absolutely mad." Miroku muttered. He did not want to be introduced to a demon court full of nobles.

"In every sense of the word." Sango muttered.

"We're doomed." Inuyasha plonked down on the floor.

Shippo just nodded sadly in agreement, at a loss for words.

"Naraku and your stepmother. Now I'm afraid." Kagome shivered slightly despite the warm air around her and the sun in the sky. She wasn't sure which of the two she feared more. A vengeful demon out to kill them or an insane stepmother, intent on introducing them to a demon noble court. Now she knew why she didn't like having visitors.


	7. The happenings inbetween

_ A/N: First off I'd like to thank **Nizuna Fujieda** for their review on chapter 6, thank you so much! I'd also like to thank anyone who put this story or it's author on their lists, your support helps me through the more difficult passages greatly. =)_

_ Now to the chapter at hand. This chapter doesn't contain any of the Inuyasha gang, be prepared for that. Instead it focuses on how Naraku is even alive again. Hopefully it will satisfy any questions that the last chapter presented. ;)_

_ Anyways, enjoy! =D _

_ (And please, please, please leave a review. Any critique is welcomed as well. I'd love to know how this story is being recieved.) =)  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 7 - The happenings inbetween**

"Who are you?" The small boy wimpered from the corner against which he had his back pressed. He didn't know why he was here. Why these demons had come for him. They had known his name and he was frightened, frightened beyond belief. What did they want from him?

"Come on now. You can't seriously mean that you don't recognise us?" The demon in front of him sneered.

"Yeah, come on Naraku, don't play innocent." Another smirked. Naraku shrank back further into the corner. He didn't know what was going on or what these creatures wanted but he wanted to go home. Go home to his mother and father and many siblings. Even his family's constant fighting seemed like heaven compared to this.

The other demons around the two in front hissed and chuckled in both amusement and disbelief. The three year-old in front of them was cowering in a corner of the cave to which they had brought him. Panic was clear in his eyes as he whimpered in fear. The boy reeked of terror, he truly didn't seem to know who they were. While it amused some and while others wanted to take their revenge on him the small proportion of other demons wanted to let the boy go. This wasn't the evil Naraku who had been formed because of them. This was only a small child. A small, innocent and absolutely terrified child. They felt guilty at making him feel this way. But they knew that the others wouldn't listen to them. They had after all been "tainted" by Onigumo's human heart. In their eyes they were worth less than trash. They didn't understand why they even kept them around if they held so much contempt for them.

Naraku closed his eyes and prayed for himself to wake up. This was all a bad dream, it had to be. There was no way that he was sitting in a cave right now, surrounded by demons who all knew his name. What had he ever done wrong to deserve this?

"Hey there! We've found her!" A group of excited voices came in from further near the entrance and Naraku cracked an eyelid open to see who they had found. To his shock it was another human girl from the village in which he lived, Aimi.

"She's the reincarnation of that strange priestess." One of the demons raised their high voice in excitement. The small girl quivered in his arms. She was frightened, so very much. She had been looking for Naraku in the woods after he had suddenly vanished. They had just gone out to pick some wild blackberries because they were hungry. Both of their families were poor.

The demon holding her roughly threw her next to another figure which had huddled itself in the corner. In shock she realised that it was Naraku. He looked absolutely terrified and she felt sure that her face bore exactly the same ones as his.

Huddling closer for warmth they both closed their eyes and prayed for someone, anyone, to rescue them. They wanted to go home. Aimi began to cry softly. She wanted her mother and sister. Naraku saw her tears and with the gentleness that only a young child can have he hugged her close, attempting to comfort her in some way. Aimi hugged him back, knowing that his frightened heart needed as much reassurance as hers did.

"What should we do with them now? They don't seem to remember their past lives?" One of the demons muttered uneasily. This wasn't how it was meant to go. After Naraku had discarded them in favour of a newer, better body, they had banded together in an attempt to try and defeat him. But then that half-demon and his group had destroyed the Shikon no Tama jewel as well as purifying Naraku. They had contemplated for a long time whether or not to act out their revenge on that small group but eventually decided against it. If they wanted revenge then they would kill the priestess who had destroyed the jewel but she had vanished along with it and nobody knew where she had gone.

So they had settled into this small cave behind the deserted demon-slayer's village. It was a perfect place, all the people in the area feared it, calling haunted and cursed. They despised going near it so therefore the demons were left in peace to heal their wounds and hatch new plans to do that which Naraku had been doing before he got defeated.

It was around a year ago that one of them had picked up faint traces of what appeared to be Naraku's scent near a human village close-by. They had immediately swooped in and investigated, their lust for revenge and power not yet satisfied. There they had found these two small children, and through the more superior powers of the demons that possessed intelligence they were able to find out that these children had been born not but a year within the deaths of their two predecessors.

Now presented with an actual target the demons began to hatch a plan. They had originally thought that these two children would remember the past events but obviously this was not to be so. Still, they would proceed with their original plan of inhibiting these two, they somehow knew that they would be able to call forth their old personalities and powers and hopefully twist them in such a fashion as to make them do their will.

Next to this smaller cave was a much larger one. None of them had been able to enter it before the Shikon no Tama had been destroyed but now that didn't seem to be the case. Several of them had been able to enter the cave and were slowly working on devouring the statues and mummies inside. Soon all the puzzle pieces would be in place and they would be able to go forth with their plan of domination and power. It wouldn't be long now.

The current demon in charge was the strongest one and he had inhibited the body of another human, now going by the name of Hisashi. As his name suggested he had been the long-lived ruler of a group of other demons before he had been devoured by Naraku and now he was the ruler of this group. He smirked. Life certainly couldn't get any better than it was at the moment. And once Naraku reverted back to his old self he would control him, using the powerful half-demon to act out his revenge against the humans and that lousy group that had defeated them all. He snarled. They wouldn't know what was coming at them.

He turned to the children in front of him. It was pathetic really. These two had once been enemies, despite lusting after one another and now they were hugging each other for support. His grin grew truly diabolical as it spread across his face. Over the past two years he himself had devoured a fair amount of demons, but even he knew that Naraku was too powerful for a demon of his calibre to eat. He may not like it or ever even admit it, but the only chance to get revenge was to try and manipulate Naraku.

Naraku and Aimi hugged each other close. They had heard a lot of stories over the years, ever since they were able to listen and comprehend what was going on around them. These demons would kill them. They were sure of it. So they just tried to find some final comfort in the fact that they were together with their best friend, that no matter what at least one other person would know what had happened to them. They squeezed their eyes shut, their breath hitching higher and higher in fear and panic. Any moment now. Any moment it would come. The order from that maniac demon grinning evilly in front of them.

"Devour them." The demon snarled and as the demons descended down on them they shivered once more. They only thought of their families and each other and how they had wished that they would have been able to see them one more time.

"I'm so sorry." The two children cried, letting the tears run freely down their faces as the first demons reached them.

¬.¬.¬.¬.¬

"Damn it all." Hisashi muttered as he stared down at the pulsing bodies of the two now lifeless children. It had been three weeks since his demons had entered the bodies of the children and he knew for a fact that they were taking incredibly long. The smells coming off the children were becoming more and more like those of their predecessors but that was what worried him. They hadn't been prepared to try and mask the growing smell over such an extended period of time. He was worried that soon others would pick up the scent and then they would have to fight them off while they waited for them to be ready to emerge once more.

The bodies had covered themselves in some sort of silk, shaping themselves in shapes similar to cocoons of a butterfly. And they had been steadily growing over the past three weeks, having reached their final sizes a few days ago. Now they were just waiting for the two of them to come forth from their slumber.

He looked at the woman standing next to him, Midoriko. Surprisingly one of the demons that he had sent next door to investigate the cave had somehow reawakened the ancient priestess whose heart had formed the Shikon no Tama. Sadly that demon had given its life to become her new heart. But now that very heart was twisted and dark and yet she managed to hold herself with the composure and grace of her former self. She still possessed all of her memories and she reminded him of the clay Kikyo from three years ago in some ways. She was definitely more twisted than Kikyo had been and she also counted herself as a demon or at least an ally of the demons now. But she still cared for humans, helping them whenever she went out. She had changed her outdated attire to a simple kimono found in the deserted slayer's village. In the process she had also acquired a sword and bow and arrow from the village, claiming to feel insecure and unsafe without carrying one constantly around.

She was truly beautiful and the two of them shared a special connection of sorts. Shun had been his mate and the human man here found the form of the human priestess delectable. Thus they had been getting on very well so far. He had filled her in on his plan and she was currently helping to speed up the reawakening process through the use of her former miko powers.

Both of them watched over the two cocoons as the other demons hurried to prepare for the awakening. Nobody could wait until they had finally exacted their revenge. They had been waiting for a long time. A much too long time.

Suddenly the cocoons began to move. Everyone in the cave held their breath as the cocoons slowly cracked open.

¬.¬.¬.¬.¬

Naraku held his head as a sharp pain shot through it. He didn't know what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being purified by that dratted human priestess that that Inuyasha had cared so much for and then being awake shortly inside the Shikon no Tama. What had happened after that?

Somewhere in the back of his mind a small boy's voice was crying out in fear and apprehension. The boy wanted to get let out. He wanted to be freed but the demons that had formed around his existance quickly shushed him. They had also been the ones that had been around Onigumo's heart. He looked down at his human form and his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. Where the hell was he?

Suddenly he heard a soft moan beside him and he turned his head. He pulled in a shocked gasp. It was Kikyo. She was lying there, her eyelids fluttering softly, her expression mirroring one of pain. Incidently she was going through exactly the same motions as he was. Aimi was crying out to her in the back of her mind, pleading her to let her go. She steeled her heart and shut her out. She looked down at her human form. She wasn't made of clay anymore?

She looked over as she heard a small rustle and with surprise saw Naraku staring at her, sitting in exactly the same position as she was. Suddenly she blushed as she realised her situation and she looked up gratefully at the person who had thrown her some clothes. With an even greater surprise she recognised her as Midoriko, the pristess who had created the Shikon no Tama from her heart. Quickly she pulled the clothes over her head, as did Naraku. Both were intent on having their questions answered.

What no one could know was that the demons had been forged with the innocent souls of these two children. They had become one entity and while both Kikyo and Naraku remembered everything, their personalities would had changed. Much of their old selves remained but the character of the two children, as well as the affection that the two had held for one another despite their three years of age, would change them greatly. As would the demons that had become one with them. They would now not be able to ever eject these creatures from their bodies ever again. The innocence of the children had purified them and had made them a facet of their souls. And nobody could reverse that, no matter how evil they may be.

~.~.~.~.~

Midoriko stared down at the two humans that she had helped to create. According to the displeased face Hisashi was showing these two weren't acting as they had before their deaths but that was only to be expected. After all, they weren't the same people. They now contained the souls of two complete innocents as well as a great amount of evil. It had been nearly fated that they would become two very similar yet also very distant people. They would act differently and form different relationships, but the escence of them would remain the same. She knew that since she was going through it right now herself.

She knew why she was here. She knew what she had to do. She had completely destroyed the demon that had become her heart and yet a trace of that demon remained. She frowned unconsciously, knowing that that still annoyed her. But no matter, she couldn't change that now. The important thing was that she had herself back, her body and her heart. The Shikon no Tama was destroyed and she was incredibly angry about that fact. She felt as if she would never be able to recover her original heart and yet that was still her ultimate goal. She knew that she would find a way somehow. After all, she was the creator of it.

Midoriko didn't even try and fool herself. She wasn't as pure or good-hearted as everyone was lead to believe. She had, even during her natural life, had a fair amount of darkness in her heart, as was usual to any human being. Even the purest ones had regrets and worries, even they held anger and resentment. And her anger was directed to one particular person, one particular human being. She somehow knew that that girl from five hundred years ago was still getting underneath her skin. She hated that she resented the purity of the small one so much. She was a pristess. She should honestly know better.

_The small girl had appeared out of nowhere in a flash of light, standing in front of Midoriko and the demons she had battled against in some sort of daze. Her eyes had looked up at her imploringly and asked "Where am I?". Midoriko hadn't been able to answer, she had been so surprised at seeing someone so young appear out of the blue._

_"Are you a demon?" She had asked the small girl._

_The small girl had replied with; "What is a demon?"._

_Midoriko had scoffed and had quickly finished off the still stupified demons, they had looked as surprised as her. She felt nothing but contempt for the creatures, they were stupid lowly monsters that attacked humans for no reason what-so-ever. The girl had just watched, her eyes showing a great amount of pain._

_"Stop it!" She had cried out, tears running down her delicate face. "Stop hurting them!"._

_That had stopped Midoriko. Why was this child protecting the demons. They were nothing but mindless killers._

_"It's people like you that kill, not them!" The small girl had screamed in agony and that was when Midoriko had noticed the smoke in the distance, not too far off. She had come through the charred village before being attacked by the demons. It had obviously been the work of some passing through samurai. She detested those kinds of men too. They were too cocky, too full of themselves._

_The small girl had cried and what had followed left Midoriko scarred to this very day. A sudden aura had surrounded the small human girl, and suddenly some strange crystals or objects had shot out of nowhere, seriously wounding Midoriko. The demons had stared at her in wonder and had then tried to move in for the kill, only to have the same happen to them._

_"Stop killing!" The girl had whimpered. "No one should die anymore. Not one person more." Tears had been rolling down her face as she said it and she had crumpled into a small heap, sobbing away. Then the strangest thing had happened. One of the demons that she had been fighting against had gotten up and slowly walked to the girl._

_"Little one." The demon's voice had been gruff and she remembered how astonished she had been at his ability to actually form a coherent sentence. "Don't cry. We won't kill her." The small girl had looked up, pain and hope playing in her eyes._

_"Really? You promise?" The child had breathed, looking up with trust into the demon's eyes._

_"We promise." The other two had nodded and they had all gotten up. Midoriko stared after them in anger. What were they doing?_

_"Thank you little one, for being merciful today." The one who had spoken turned around._

_"What does that mean?" The little girl had asked, her eyebrows scrunched together as she wiped away the remainder of her tears._

_"For not killing us." One of the others had said._

_"But I didn't do anything." The little girl had said rather sadly and rather confused too._

_The first demon had smiled and then turned around, raising his hand in farewell. "Bye!" The little girl had shouted, seemingly happy at the turn of events._

_"Why did you help them?" Midoriko had hissed. "They are nothing but monsters who need to be purified."_

_The small girl had looked at her sadly then. "They didn't hate you and yet you hate them." She sounded too wise for her years, too old. Her eyes told Midoriko that she had seen things that no three year-old should have seen._

_The small girl had then pulled Midoriko to a nearby tree with a lot of effort and had handed her some sort of herb._

_"Eat it, it helps." The girl smiled. "My mama always gave it to me." And with that she had walked back onto the road, holding up her hand in farewell before running off, calling her family's names._

To this very day Midoriko wouldn't understand why the little girl had done what she had.

~.~.~.~.~

Kaede looked out at the setting sun. Tomorrow they would deal with what Lady Taishou had told them. When Inuyasha and the others had come back from the meadow they had told her everything. Somehow she had the feeling that something would happen. Something bad. She didn't like the feeling that was flowing through her old bones at all.

But tomorrow would be another day.

Tomorrow they would be able to deal with the new threat and the problems that came with it.

Tomorrow.


	8. Starting On Another Journey

_ A/N: Thank you so much to **Euphie-chan** and **KissaBoony** for their reviews on chapter 7, it helps to motivate me into writing more. Thank you! =) I promise that I will try and incorporate more romantic scenes between Inuyasha and Kagome as the story progresses, once I have come further along with this plot idea. =P =D After all this is an InuyashaXKagome fic. ;) Thank you also to anyone who has added this story or it's author to their lists, you will not believe how much moral support that gives me. =)_

_ And now... on with the chapter! ;D _

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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 8 - Starting on another Journey**

"I am going!" Sango raged at Miroku.

"But Sango... you're five months pregnant! You can't possibly think that you'll be safe or okay while we're trying to find Naraku again!" Miroku looked just as angry as she did.

"I can still fight!" Sango glared at Miroku with angry sparks in her eyes.

"I never said that you can't fight! I'm just worried that he'll see you as an easy target and try to kill you!" Miroku bellowed back, starting to sound desperate.

"I won't die!"

"You will if you come! Have you ever thought that we might take longer than a few months to find him? What if the baby comes while we're confronting him? What then?"

Sango winced at the anger and logic in his words. It all made sense, it truly did. But she couldn't stay here while her friends and Miroku were travelling around, looking for Naraku. And she still felt hatred towards Naraku. The bastard had destroyed her village after all.

"You can't stop me. I'm going Miroku." Sango said quietly, hoping that it might affect him more. She was going. And that was final.

"I know." Miroku looked resigned. "But that doesn't stop me from trying to keep you safe by hoping to convince you to stay here."

"He killed my family. I won't stay here while knowing that my new family could be the ones who he's killing next." Sango said quietly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Drat these hormones." She quickly wiped away the coming tears.

Suddenly she found herself in a tight embrace. Miroku held her close to him and rested his chin on her head. After a few seconds of trying to keep up a tough front to make her appear more determinate in her cause, she lost. Wrapping her arms around him she hid her head in his chest and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Fighting with him hurt her just as much as it hurt him but she wouldn't budge on this issue.

"Whenever we are presented with danger you will leave on Kirara instantly. I don't care if it's nothing more than a lizard or weasel demon. You will instantly go to safety. Okay?" He looked down at her, his violet eyes reverberating in concern.

She nodded weakly, happy that he was letting her come along. He had probably figured that if he left her here then she would simply come after them or Naraku on their own. And that was even more dangerous to her and their unborn child.

"Just don't try to pull of any strange stunts or go on ahead on your own. Please promise me that Sango." His plea came from the bottom of his heart.

"I promise Miroku." Sango looked up at him, stray tear rolling down her face as she smiled softly. He lifted his hand up to wipe it away. She reached up with her own and when their hands met their fingers laced together, falling back down to their sides. He bent his head down and their noses touched. They remained in that position, the simple act giving them both the comfort and reassurance that they needed.

~.~.~.~.~

"I wonder how much longer they're gonna take." Kagome looked at the entrance to Kaede's hut, the interest and curiosity clear in her eyes.

Inuyasha snorted. He could smell Sango's salty tears and he had heard their whole conversation. Oh how much he wished to not be able to hear them at times like this. He looked over at Kagome and wondered how she would have reacted had she been in Sango's position. He shook his head in annoyance. Why was he even thinking of such things?

At that precise moment Sango and Miroku decided to come out of the hut. Strangely Shippo was nowhere to be found. Maybe he had run off somewhere to deal with the news of Naraku being back. Hopefully he hadn't run too far away. Inuyasha was in no mood to go and look for him at the moment.

"I'm coming." Sango smiled a watery smile at Kagome who ran forward immediately, hugging her best friend close to her. She somehow knew that it had been hard for both Sango and Miroku to make this decision. Somehow Kagome always knew when people needed to be comforted. It was after all her big heart that they had to thank for getting them all together in one group. Inuyasha doubted that he and the others would have met and then formed a group as they had without Kagome present. She was truly a miracle in person.

He nodded shortly at Miroku and his friend grimaced, understanding that Inuyasha had heard it all. At his peeved expression Inuyasha smirked.

"Don't worry, sometimes I don't want to hear it either." Inuyasha grinned a devious smile at his friend. Realising the implications of that statement Miroku blushed bright red and spluttered a bit- Inyasha chuckled at his friend's embarrassment. It was way too much fun to annoy Miroku to not do it.

"I wonder where Shippo is." Sango looked around herself, still hugging Kagome as tightly as the young miko was hugging her.

"Waaaaah!" Shippo came running out of the forest, another demon hot on his tail. Kirara was behind that demon, chasing it down with her fangs bared. Inuyasha immediately drew his sword. But before anything else could happen, the demon spied Inuyasha and the others and turned tail, running away at full speed, barely even managing to avoid Kirara's snapping fangs.

"I wonder what that was all about..." Kagome trailed off, looking after the demon in confusion.

"Who knows... maybe it got lost?" Sango queried. The others sweat dropped. Yeah, like a demon would actually simply get lost... and chase a kitsune while being chased by a nekomata... Yeah right.

"Well now that you are all here, ye can all go off and find Naraku." Kaede looked at them expectantly.

"You don't beat around the bush, do you Kaede?" Miroku asked, just slightly nervous.

"She's too old to do so." Inuyasha muttered.

"Sit boy!" Kagome's voice rang clear as she stalked off with Sango down the well-worn road that they had travelled so many times.

"Why...?" Inuyasha groaned as he begun to get back up.

"You never learn my friend, do you?" Miroku mockingly patted Inuyasha on the head, happy to get his friend back for the previous statement he had left off. Inuyasha growled dangerously, not happy to be treated like a dog.

"Come on, let's go. Lest we lose our beautiful maidens." Miroku grinned, back to his old self almost instantly. Admittedly, he had missed their days on the road. He had been so used to always travelling, having done so since being but a boy.

"Keh." Inuyasha crossed his arms as he marched off. Shippo grinned as he hopped onto Miroku's shoulder.

"Bye Kaede!" Shippo waved back at the aging miko and she waved back, her kind eyes hiding the turmoil and worry that were deep inside of her. Inuyasha and the others also raised their hands in farewell before vanishing over the hill.

"But why was that demon chasing you?" Miroku turned to Shippo, Inuyasha was still too annoyed to say anything without being insulting. Wisely he kept his mouth shut.

"I don't know." Shippo chewed on one of his many provisions. Kami knew where he got all of them from. "I was just getting some berries when this demon jumped out and saw me. He then froze as if he wasn't sure what to do. I was really surprised too. Then he just mumbled something about me being a kitsune and then he attacked me for no reason at all!" Shippo looked extremely indignant.

"Most demons don't have a reason to attack or to not attack." Inuyasha stated. They had caught up to Kagome and Sango by this time. Inuyasha didn't meet Kagome's eyes and decided to ignore her glare. It was hilarious nearly, watching how his ears were bent back against his head.

"It's still strange." Sango muttered, lost deep in thought.

"Maybe he knew who Shippo was and wanted to prevent him from coming back to us and telling that he had spotted him." The others looked at Kagome in confusion. "Come on now, think about it like this. Naraku's apparently back, right?" The others nodded. "Which means that someone has to have helped him get back. After purifying him I doubt that he could have come back on his own."

"That's true..." Miroku trailed off. "And since the ones who we are presuming are helping him know us to be his enemies they might think that we are still trying to anhilate any of his former demons or supporters."

"And that could have been one such demon. Or an outlook of sorts. They don't want us to know what they are doing and they don't want us to know where Naraku might be. Or what they're planning to do for that matter." Sango looked slightly excited now.

"Inuyasha, could you maybe try and pick up that demon's scent? You never know, he might lead us where we need to go." Miroku turned to his friend.

"Keh. It's worth a try." Inuyasha held his nose in the air, attempting to filter out the pungent stench of that demon from all the others. He knew that it would take some time.

"Didn't Lady Taishou say something about an abandoned village?" Kagome spoke to the other two while Inuyasha tried to concentrate on finding the scent.

"I only know of one village that is abandoned and is almost certain to be left alone." Miroku looked sadly at Sango.

"I hope those bastards aren't where I think they are otherwise-" Sango was cut off by Miroku.

"You will fly off on Kirara as soon as possible." He stood firm against the death-glare that she was sending in his direction.

"It's a start." Inuyasha said. The others turned to him. "If the demon's are near the slayer's village then it'll be easier to find the one that ran away. And if they are there then we can take care of them immediately." He cracked his knuckles. Shippo shivered.

"Come on. Let's go then." Kagome let off a weary sigh as they went down the road that forked left at the crossing, not wanting to think about what lay ahead of them.

~.~.~.~.~

"Naraku, we will have to leave this place soon. Your former enemies have discovered your existance. You are now in grave danger here. You are no longer safe." Midoriko looked up at the man that she had come to serve under. Hisashi may be complaining all he wanted, but Naraku struck true fear within the hearts of the demons around him, they served him without a second thought.

"Why run? If they come then we can eliminate them immediately. I have no wish to run or hide from them as I did in my past life." As always, a look of contempt crossed his features as he remembered his past life. He seemed to enjoy his current life far more.

"Very well my lord." Midoriko bowed and quietly left the chamber which the demons had drilled into the walls of the caves around them. Within the short span of the past two weeks since Naraku had awoken, the demons had managed to create an intricate and complex tunnel system throughout these caves, making it near to impossible for anyone but those who lived there to find their way around it. She could see why Naraku wished to remain, here they were safer than they would ever be somewhere else. The tunnel systems gave them the advantage should someone attack and the demons all felt reassured in their appearingly superior position.

She walked through the tunnels to one of the many entrances to the tunnels and slipped outside. She may be serving these bastards right now but she knew that she would eventually leave them and strike out on her own once again. She had always despised demons, she didn't know why she still remained. Maybe because she had nowhere else to go. Maybe because this darkness in her heart seemed to be growing more and more each day. She truly didn't know.

She sucked in a breath of clean air and attempted to clear her head. Once more the image of the young girl flew to her mind unbidden. Why wasn't she able to get her out of her mind? Why were those large trusting eyes of hers unsettling? Midoriko shook her head in agitation. She had never been one to believe in fate. But something was holding her here. Something was making her think that she had a bigger part to play than just be the servant of some conceited half-demon.

_"Stay safe!" The small girl walked away smiling. "See you soon!" She laughed as she hurried along, calling the names of her loved ones. But since when did you call your loved ones 'Lady'? She couldn't remember ever having even felt that girl's prescence near the village as she had travelled through the area numerous times before. Who was she really? Why was she here? And why had that girl helped her and, in essence, saved her from those demons?_

_Her vibrant green eyes jumped and danced in happiness as she ran off, turning to face Midoriko one last time. She waved and then vanished behind the hills. "Good-bye miko-sama!"_

Midoriko needed to get rid of that girl's image. She needed to exterminate some demons to calm her racing nerves. Giving a quick note to a passing demon to give to Naraku and Hisashi she set out, intent on killing and ridding the earth of at least some demons before returning to their nest.

~.~.~.~.~

"Waaah!" The customary shouts filled the air as Kohaku shook his head in resignment and trudged on through the drizzle. They had left his sister's village a few days ago and he and Jaken and Ah-Un had become accustomed to shouts that would echo around ever few hours or so.

Yukari got up with an extremely miffed expression. "Ten metres!" She ranted at Sesshomaru, who was currently attempting to get up without losing any more of his already completely drained dignity. "Ten freakin' metres! What is so hard to understand about that?" She was flaring up again and the others just moved on ahead, not wanting to get involved in the constant spat that the two of them had.

To be honest, it was absolutely hilarious to watch Sesshomaru and Yukari fly across the place every few hours because they forgot the restrictions brought about by the cursed amulet. Not that any of them would admit it though. Sesshomaru and Yukari were both extremely proud people who refused to give in to the other in any fashion or manner.

Kohaku sighed once more. Even Jaken had given up on lecturing Yukari, fearing a permanent head injury should he continue to try and explain to her how one should treat Sesshomaru. Hopefully they would find Naraku soon. Or even any kind of demons. Any kind of fight might relieve the constantly building tension between the two blockheads behind them.

~.~.~.~.~

"I wonder if they'll be okay." Ayumi stared out across the large fields that stretched out below her, Kaede at her side. She had stayed in the village while the others had set out to find this 'Naraku' person. Kaede had done her best at trying to explain to the confused young woman what the history between Naraku and the group were and Ayumi had come to fear greatly for Kagome's safety.

"Do not worry my child. They will be okay." Kaede smiled reassuringly at the young woman beside her. The others had left a few days prior and Kaede knew that they might be gone for months on end. But she had come to trust them all, knowing that if anyone stood a chance against that monster Naraku then it was them.

"Are you sure?" Ayumi looked at Kaede in doubt. She had only been in the feudal era for barely a week but she had already figured that it was much more dangerous here than it was in her own time. It still hurt her but she knew that she couldn't return.

"If it is anyone, it will be them." Kaede looked into the same direction that Ayumi was. The young woman wore a borrowed kimono from down in the village. Kaede wasn't sure what to do with her yet, she had so far proven that she wasn't fit to be a priestess. And they already had Kagome to fill that position once she returned. "Come on, let us find ye something to do." Taking Ayumi's quivering hand she led her back down to the village, knowing that worrying and fretting would not help the young woman at all.


	9. Letters

_ A/N: I am truly sorry for taking such a long time to update this story. Procrastination is a horrible thing and I have to say that I have fallen victim to it more times than I would have liked to. A new year's resolution for next year is to update all of my stories more regularly so I hope that from now on updates will be more regular. Rest assured that all of my stories will get finished sooner or later, though the latter seems to be the one that's winning at the moment. :P_**  
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_ And thank you to **kate**, **LifeandFire25**, **Kissa****Boony**, **Purplediamon** and **PoeticNonsenseNinjaStyle** for their reviews on chapter 8. Thank you so much guys. :)  
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_ Anyways, on with the story and again, a thousand apologies for my tardiness.  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 9 - Letters**

"This reminds me of our time hunting down Naraku three years ago." Kagome said happily as they all walked along the well-beaten road. So far they had not met with any demons or any other problems of any kind, something that Miroku was eternally grateful for. He did not want to imagine having to send Sango away on Kirara, especially since he knew that his lovely wife would put up quite a fight.

"We had a lot of fun then!" Shippo exclaimed just as happily as Kagome, having missed their previous road-travelling. He had had a lot of fun training under the other kitsune in the past three years, and he had gotten exponentially stronger, but that didn't change the fact that he had wanted to go travelling with all of them again.

"Keh." As usual, Inuyasha had about as much to say as a rock towards the subject. Miroku smirked, the hanyou had way too much fun just being near Kagome to complain about anything at all.

"I don't remember it being as strenuous then as it is now though." Sango complained as she rode along on Kirara. Inuyasha sent her a disbelieving look, how could one be tired merely from riding on a demon?

"You weren't pregnant back then." He said outright to Sango.

"Maybe we should rest for a couple of minutes before continuing?" Miroku asked placatingly to try and stop Kagome from flying at Inuyasha for being so untactical. She was already glaring at him, and they had just started travelling after a good night's rest a couple of hours ago.

"And we can eat something!" Shippo exclaimed, the small child within him still very present.

"Again?" Inuyasha was feeling exasperated, why would one want to rest as often as this group did?

"Inuyasha..." Kagome growled dangerously, daring him to make another statement like that. Inuyasha gulped, having the feeling that he had said something wrong once again. They had started their travels to Sango's former village two weeks back and during the past couple of days Kagome had been in an exceptionally bad mood. He was seriously beginning to wonder why though.

"Let's just all sit down and eat something and then we can continue." Miroku put up his hand to stop Kagome from getting mad. "It's nearly lunch anyway."

"That's a really good idea." Sango smiled at him with endearment in her eyes.

Kagome and Inuyasha both looked away uncomfortably at the scene of love in front of them. Shippo smirked as he observed them while Kirara just rolled her eyes. Both wondered when those two would come to terms with their feelings.

~.~.~.~.~

"And here are the letters." Yuka and Eri looked at surprise once more at Kagome's family. They hadn't expected them all to know as much as they had about the feudal era and Kagome's exploits in it. And they most definitely hadn't expected their eager questioning where Inuyasha and the others had been concerned. Especially Souta had wanted to know how the hanyou was doing while Kagome's mum had also been quite interested in how the others were doing.

"Thank you so much you two. This means a lot to us." Kagome's mum smiled beautifully at them and they looked away slightly uncomfortably, not expecting such gratitude. When all four of them had vanished several weeks back they had been shocked to find the police running around the place looking for them. They had shown the police the letters from Kagome and Ayumi (but not the contents of course, they themselves were clueless as to what was stated within them) and had said that the other two were fine, they had just gone on some trip to the countryside.

Admittedly the police had found it extremely hard to believe them but there wasn't much else they could do. So the search for the other two was pulled off and stopped and although they had intended to instantly give the two families the letters, time had suddenly sped by and in the initial confusion following their return they had been unable to hand the letters to them, and had then been caught up in college.

"Well, we'll be going then Mrs. Higurashi, we still have some letters to give to Ayumi's family." The two of them stood up from the chairs they had been inhibiting and were well on their way out as the others called a fond good-bye towards them.

As soon as the two friends were gone, Mrs. Higurashi opened the letters as her husband's father and her son watched her with anticipation. Sadness and happiness both swirled in her eyes. Sadness at the fact that her daughter had gone back to the past permanently, and happiness that Kagome had finally decided to do what she had been denying herself so long. It had pained her after all to watch her daughter go to the shrine daily and try to reach the past once more.

_Dear Mama,_

_I know that this may appear sudden to you, but the light at my nineteenth birthday party transported me, Eri, Yuka and Ayumi back into the past. Into the feudal era, where Inuyasha and all the others that I told you guys about were. Upon arriving here, I realised just how much I had truly missed everyone and somehow knew that I wouldn't be able to go back. I also realised just how much I love Inuyasha, I am quite sure that I will not be able to change that or my desire to remain here by his side._

_However, once in the village, Inuyasha's brother Sesshomaru arrived with his entourage and one of they realised that our sudden travelling through time had not only transported more people than it usually did but that all of my friends in this era, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara and Inuyasha had gained something known as the 'Taishou Crest' something that places them in the clan that Inuyasha belongs to, a crest that lets them basically live eternally unless they are killed in another fashion._

_Inuyasha and the others weren't the only ones that gained this crest though, Ayumi and I were also branded with one. The woman who was able to allow Eri and Yuka to travel back into your time said that she could not let us travel back though, since the immense burden of not aging in the natural manner and also of never dying naturally would take too great a toll on our mental well-being._

_I had long before decided to remain in this time, since I feel that I truly belong here and I pray that you, grandpa and Souta will be able to forgive me for my selfish choice. Ayumi on the other hand had no choice and I truly feel responsible for what happened to her. It most definitely wasn't supposed to happen. So if her family are ever facing any difficulties, could you please make sure that they are alright? I know that my request is selfish and that I shouldn't really be asking this of you but could you please make sure that they are?_

_As you have read above this crest gives us a natural eternal life. Therefore, should we still be alive by the time that we reach your time again, we will let you know. I shall say that it should be around the time my twentieth birthday would have occured. Should no message reach you however by that time, know that I truly love all of you and that I apologise for my actions and decisions, because I know that they must be hurting you._

_So please, just hold on another year before we see each other again, because I am absolutely positive we will._

_Your loving daughter_

_Kagome_

Tears streamed down their faces as they all read through Kagome's words. If this letter was right, then she was probably alive and well out there right now. But they would have to wait. Kagome had given them a date they could look forward too and prepare themselves for, and in their hearts they knew that Kagome had made the right decision. She hadn't been all that happy in this time, constantly pining for the past.

~.~.~.~.~

"I'm surprised that they took it so well." Eri looked at Yuka.

"Me too, I thought that they would be more shocked or surprised." Yuka nodded. Both of them had been positively overwhelmed at the news they had recieved several weeks back and were still coming to terms with it. Amongst the letters that Kagome and Ayumi had given them, they had also found one addressed at them, much to their own surprise.

_"Hey Eri! Look at this!" Yuka waved a letter at Eri as she looked up from her position on the sofa. They had returned from the past roughly three weeks ago and had remembered the letters that had been entrusted to them._

_"What is it?" Eri asked. She still felt angry and annoyed at her friends for their choices to remain in the past. She was even more peeved about how much Kagome had been keeping a secret from them._

_"There's a letter." Yuka seemed really excited._

_"There are a lot of letters Yuka." Eri said in an annoyed voice. Admittedly, she had had a very short patience to begin with, and since she was currently pretty annoyed her patience and tolerance were even lower._

_"A letter for us you ninny." Yuka said with exasperation. Eri's short-tempered behavious was starting to grate on her own nerves._

_"For us?" That caught Eri's attention._

_"Yeah, I think it's from Kagome and Ayumi." Yuka sat down comfortably on the couch next to her and began to open the letter. Eri quickly turned off the television that had been running until then and turned her full concentration to Yuka and the letter._

_"Dear Eri and Yuka" Yuka began to read aloud._

_"I know that you do not agree with mine and Ayumi's decision to stay here but I have to tell you the reasons that I was unable to mention before you left (mainly because we were so hung up on saying good-bye to one another.)._

_I am in love with Inuyasha and the people here. Here, in this era, I feel truly and utterly at home. I know that it isn't necessarily something that is easily understood, but here I feel like I've found my calling, like I can be myself fully and completely without worrying about what others say. This feeling only intensified when we left school and started college. Everyone started judging me for my ideas and my background, they think it's old-fashioned to live at a shrine and with your parents and while I do not necessarily mind that, being excluded from the others due to their opinions can make life a bit harder though._

_I know that it may not seem like an easy choice to make, I'm leaving my family and all you guys behind after all, but believe me when I say that it wasn't that hard. Making this decision lets me feel as if I've done the right thing._

_Please don't be angry with me, because I know that especially you Eri will feel that way about me and my decision. I am truly sorry for causing you any discomfort or pain."_

_"The handwriting changes there." Eri noted as she peered down at the page in front of them. Yuka nodded at her before continuing to read out the missive from their friends._

_"My reasons for staying aren't the same as Kagome's. For one I don't really have the option of returning due to this weird tattoo-thing on my back that Kagome calls the 'Taishou Crest'. But please just know that I'm not staying here against my will. You both know about my situation at home. You know how strained the relationship between me and the rest of my family are. This... situation that has arisen and given me the opportunity of staying, I feel like it's giving me the chance to escape from all of that and to view things slightly more objectively. Maybe this absence will also grant my brother and sister the same thing. I don't know. I do know however that I wish to remain in this era for some time yet, if just to be able to escape from the reality that has formed there. Like Kagome I am truly sorry if I hurt you guys in the process but I feel like I need to do this. Please forgive me."_

_Yuka and Eri felt tears rise to their eyes as they stared at what was clearly Ayumi's handwriting in front of them. Had she truly felt that pressured and unhappy in this era?_

_"Here Kagome starts writing again." Eri pointed to the next paragraph on the letter. Once again Yuka only found it inside her to nod._

_"And don't worry about us. If all goes well and we do live eternally, we will see you guys again in your era. Don't worry too much, we should all be fine. So it won't be that long of a wait for you guys, give us a year before we see each other again. Well a year for you anyway._

_All the best and stay well and safe_

_Kagome and Ayumi."_

Both looked at each other as they remembered what had happened two days ago. Now all they had left to do was deliver Ayumi's letter to her family and then all they would be able to do was wait and hope that they had managed to remain safe the past five hundred years or so.

~.~.~.~.~

"I wonder how they all reacted to Ayumi and my letters." Kagome mused as they sat comfortably against a tree and ate their lunch.

"Probably how you expect them to." Miroku gave Sango her share of the food.

"How do you expect them to react?" Sango quickly thanked Miroku before turning back to Kagome.

"Well..." Kagome trailed off, chewing on her food before swallowing it. "Mum, gramps and Souta will understand and I think that they might even be happy. But they'll definitely be sad about it all. I mean, for them it might only be a year or so, but for us it's going to be five hundred years if we make it through."

"We'll make it." Inuyasha said with conviction, his voice holding no doubt that Kagome would be able to see her friends and family once more.

"Thanks Inuyasha." Kagome smiled brilliantly at him, which caused him to blush slightly and cough a bit as he looked away while muttering something that sounded like 'no problem'. Sango nudged Miroku who just smirked while Shippo and Kirara rolled their eyes but smiled none the less.

~.~.~.~.~

"Here we are." Yuka swallowed heavily while even Eri felt uncomfortable. Ayumi and her brother and sister had drifted apart after the sudden deaths of their parents, and being Ayumi's friends they had of course decided to support her side in the whole matter. Even though Ayumi had often said that there were no sides and that her brother and sister were fully justified in what they did and believed in.

Eri and Yuka disagreed though. And Kagome had of course also decided to support Ayumi in this disagreement between siblings.

Suddenly the door opened, revealing the very disgruntled face of Ayumi's older sister, Asami Okada, who glared at them quite ferociously when seeing who it was.

"What do you want?" She spat out, knowing that they were the close friends of Ayumi.

Eri bristled at the tone that Asami used on them and was about to retort when Yuka quickly cut in, being the more level-headed of the two.

"We just have a letter from Ayumi to you that she asked us to deliver." She said smoothly, but her eyes betrayed her dislike for the older woman.

"Well you can take it back to her and tell her that she can burn it." Asami growled right back at her.

"Listen, taking this letter isn't an option. We're not leaving until you take it and anyway we can't take it back to her since we don't know where the hell she is at the moment. She's out of the country and before she left she asked us to take this to you. End of story. And you are going to take this letter, whether you like it or not." Eri barely held herself back from flying at the woman, her temper practically getting the better of her but not quite.

"Here, take it." With that she ripped the letter out of Yuka's hands, pressed it into Asami's and stalked off while pulling Yuka behind her, leaving a slightly dumbfounded Asami standing in the doorway, being quite surprised at the younger woman's display of her temper.

Closing the door she stared down at the letter in her hands and, despite her better judgement, decided to open it up and see what her sister had decided to write to her. She quickly ripped open the missive and began to read it through.

_Dear Asami and Takao,_

_I know that you don't want to hear anything from me, after all, it is fully understandable. You think that I am the reason mum and dad died, and in some respects I do believe that you may be right. If I hadn't asked them to come and pick me up that night, they wouldn't have driven out to get me. But, contrary to what you know, we did get back home safely. I was even asleep and that's why I didn't know about their deaths until the next day._

_I don't know what happened but it happened after they got me home. I don't know why they went out again to drive somewhere, but it wasn't to pick me up from that party. They picked me up and we got back home safe and sound._

_Whether you choose to believe me or not is up to you._

_But that was not why I wrote this letter, I wrote this letter to tell you that I am leaving the country. For how long I cannot tell. Maybe it's just a few weeks or months, maybe it's a year or two. Maybe it's even longer. I honestly cannot tell. That's why I'm writing this to you. To tell you two that I won't be around for some time. I don't know where I'll be or what I'll do, but I promise to explain everything to you in full, should I come back. And even then I cannot promise that I will. That is why I told you about mum and dad at the beginning of this letter._

_I am truly sorry for any pain that I might have caused you._

_I am sorry for causing you pain even now._

_And I am sorry for being such a coward and in some ways taking the easy way out by running away._

_I hope that you can one day find it in your hearts to forgive me._

_Your ever-loving sister_

_Ayumi Okada_

Asami stared at the piece of paper in her hands, not quite understanding what was going on. Then it began to sink in. She felt numb as she sank to the floor, the letter still in her hands.

What had she done?

~.~.~.~.~

"What are you doing?" Yukari looked up to see the very annoyed face of Sesshomaru stare down at the piece of paper she was currently writing on.

"I'm writing a letter to your dear lady mother that expresses my opinion towards her most recent decisions." She said sweetly, the undertone of her voice being purely acidic though.

"Hn." He said and turned away again, hoping that she would hurry up and finish the missive so that they would be able to continue with their journey, they desperately had to find Naraku and make sure that he vanished once and for all.

He couldn't stand the bloody half-demon at all.


	10. The burning village

_A__/N: A fast update! I'm a bit surprised at myself for that but oh well... :P ;) Anyways, the last chapter was a filler chapter of sorts but I thought that it was important to find out what Kagome and Ayumi had written to the others in their letters._**  
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_ Thank you to **I love snowy owls** for their review on chapter 10. :)  
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_ On with chapter 10 and the continuation of their journey! And before I forget it... MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 10 - The burning village**

"Naraku, I think that it would be wise if we pull back a bit further into the caves. We haven't regained our full strength yet, so should Inuyasha and his group, or any other of our former enemies make it here for that matter, we wouldn't stand a fair chance against them." Kikyo looked at Naraku imploringly, hoping that he would understand where she was coming from.

"We shall do that then." Naraku smiled down at her before turning to the rest of the assembled demons. "We need to retreat further into the tunnels if we wish to defeat that Inuyasha and his group with our full force." The demons around him murmered. They knew that what he was saying made sense, but most of them still wished to extract revenge more, rather than hide and build up their powers, it simply wasn't their style.

"Together we would be able to beat them now though." Hisashi spoke out, knowing that this was what most of the demons were thinking.

"But we would suffer heavy losses and we must not forget that Inuyasha is the only one out there. They might not have the support of that aggravating miko Kagome, but they still have a priest and a demon slayer in that group, not to mention two other demons. We would still lose many that are gathered in these caves." Naraku looked them all in the eyes, daring them to speak against him.

"And then there is also the problem of Inuyasha's older brother Sesshomaru. If Inuyasha was able to pick up that we were back, then Sesshomaru will most definitely know that we are back and he will come and search for us. And he isn't a hanyou like Inuyasha is, he is a full inu taiyoukai and also the current Lord of the Western Lands. Fighting against both brothers and their entourages simultaneously could be fatal for us. Having known both before I would say that it would be more beneficial to build up our strengths." Kikyo said, also glaring at the assembly of demons before her as Naraku had.

The demons gulped and slowly nodded, not wishing to speak against the two in front of them and began to leave to make preparations for their retreat into caves further back. Hisashi growled lowly to himself as he mockingly bowed to Naraku and Kikyo before leaving. This wasn't going as planned. He had thought that Kikyo and Naraku would be so overcome with the urge for revenge that they would let themselves be manipulated by himself and the other demons.

But so far to no avail. The two had stood strong and had called forth a sense of fear and respect in the other demons that he hadn't expected. And he knew that if push came to shove that the demons would follow those two rather than him. It was infuriating really. He had had it all planned out so carefully and now it seemed as if his plans for revenge against the humans and Naraku were burning down into ashes.

He would just have to bide his time. He really had no other choice right now. But while Naraku was building his strength, he would also build his strength and then he would become strong enough to eat that miserable hanyou and that infuriating miko and then he would be the undisputed strongest of them all.

A slow smile formed on his face as he left. He would prevail and become the leader of demons once more. He would not allow himself to be trumped by Naraku a second time, he would make sure of that.

Midoriko watched the scowling form of Hisashi leave the room. She did not like his intentions, but neither did she like any of the demons around here. She looked over at the forms of Kikyo and Naraku. She sensed in them what she knew had happened in herself. Some kind of purity had cancelled out the evil of the demons that had been used to create them, just like her former goodness had purified the demoness that had taken the place of her own heart.

What she wondered about more and more though recently was what their real objectives were. If those two had in essence been purified in one way or another, then they should have a clear mind and their own, very distinctive personalities. But if anything the other demons mumbled about in the shadows was to go by, then those two were already acting differently than the way they had been acting in their previous lives.

She knew what her true objective was. The retrieval of her heart, as well as the elimination of all demons around. The second objective had become more and more prevalent over the final years of her former life. After seeing the suffering of all those around her, she knew that demons had to be eradicated so that people could live a calm and peaceful life.

But then again, that was her. What about those two in front of her, that seemed to be so sure of what they did? What were their real objectives?

~.~.~.~.~

"How long has it been since you last saw your village?" Kagome looked at Sango, knowing that it was a painful subject for her best friend, but this question had been plaguing her mind for the better part of the week now. And so far she had been unable to come up with any kind of answer.

Sango's eyes grew slightly distant as she remembered her village. "About two years I think. We all went to see how the graves were doing and we put down flowers to commemorate their death day. Kohaku came too, although Sesshomaru and the others kept their distance."

"And last year?" Kagome knew that if they had gone to the graves once, they would surely go again.

"We didn't manage to go." Sango looked sad as she looked over at her. "Inuyasha and Miroku were on an extermination mission while I was helping Kaede in some other village where there had been a landslide. I was supposed to go on the mission with Inuyasha and Miroku too, I wasn't pregnant back then yet, but the distress message came the morning we were supposed to leave and fearing that it might have been the work of demons, I went along with Kaede."

"We were supposed to after we had all returned but somehow after that, the number of demons appearing and causing havock began to increase so we were constantly in and out of the village, often having to do seperate missions to get it all done." Miroku continued to explain to Kagome.

"If I think back on it now, the increase in demon numbers may have something to do with the reason that we're travelling to your village today." Inuyasha made a rare insightful comment as he looked at Sango.

"That's very possible, I mean, the demons may even have tried to prevent us from going near the village, knowing that we would probably investigate should we find something slightly off." Miroku mused, it hadn't really occured to him before, but their opponent may be slightly cleverer than they had initially thought.

"If that's the case then our opponent might not only be Naraku, but also the one that brought him back from the dead." Kagome looked slightly afraid at the prospect of another fearsome enemy appearing.

"So you think that he didn't come back himself?" Shippo looked at the rest of them with fear. If someone was able to bring Naraku back to life, then that person must be pretty strong themselves.

"Possibly, but we can't really be all that sure." Miroku said soothingly, knowing that getting all agitated and afraid now wasn't really going to do any of them any good. He did believe that someone else was at work here too, and it wasn't an idea he particularily liked.

"Maybe Naraku's re-awakening also had something to do with the Shikon no Tama reappearing." Kagome looked at the jewel hanging around her neck. She and Kaede had created a barrier around it to prevent anyone else from sensing it, but it made her uneasy to think that it all had to do with this one jewel once again.

"I seriously hope not." Sango looked over at Kagome. "Because if it does, then maybe it also means that he and other demons will come after it once more."

"Let them try. We'll just defeat them like we defeated them before." Inuyasha held up Tetsusaiga and Shippo grinned at him, feeling slightly reassured.

"Yeah!" Shippo and Kirara agreed with Inuyasha and the others smiled. It felt good to be back in their group like in previous times.

Continuing down the road, Kagome took in the passing countryside. It didn't seem as if much had changed, in fact, it looked exactly the same as it had been before she had left. The fields were still a beautiful green and the countryside surrounding them seemed peaceful. She knew why she preferred this era to the modern one, despite its many dangers. It was calmer, slower and gave off a more natural feel. She smiled as she looked around herself. It felt truly good to be back.

Suddenly Inuyasha stopped and lifted his nose into the air, sniffing around like a dog.

"Is something the matter Inyasha?" Miroku looked at his friend in worry, the scrunched up expression on his face normally bore no good.

"I smell smoke. It's strong and coming from the village that we're heading towards." The others looked at each other in alarm.

"Let's go then, we need to find out what happened." Kagome quickly climbed onto Inuyasha's back as he took off and Sango and Miroku joined Shippo on the now fully-grown Kirara.

"I hope nothing bad has happened." Sango held onto Miroku tightly as Kirara ran forward.

"So do I Sango, so do I." But in his heart Miroku knew that it wouldn't be anything good. Smoke and villages together normally didn't.

~.~.~.~.~

"There's some smoke coming from that village over there." Yukari nodded towards the pillars of smoke that were slowly beginning to rise over the horizon.

"Hn." Sesshomaru nodded before taking a closer sniff of the air. It smelled like a fire, and it didn't smell like one that was accidental.

"Should we go and check it out?" Kohaku asked as he and Jaken began to mount Ah-Un.

"Should we, Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken attempted to make himself more comfortable on the herbivorous demon.

"Yes." And with that they all took off, feeling that this might have something to do with the demons that they had been looking for in the past month.

~.~.~.~.~

"What do you think you're doing?" Midoriko hissed at the demons in front of her as she stared at the chaos that had once been a calm and peaceful village. It was currently going up in flames and people were running through the streets in a village, some trying to quench the fire in vain while others were looking for loved ones and others were simply panicking. It tore at her heart to see all of the humans suffering in front of her.

"Hisashi ordered us to offer the ones that were beginning to close in on us a distraction. Something that will occupy them and give us more time." The demon quivered slightly underneath Midoriko's withering glare and she was barely able to hold herself back from incinerating him right where he stood.

"And a distraction means that you set some village into flames, killing innocent people." Her pupils had grown into slits and her voice was low and deathly.

"They're not as innocent as you make them out to be former _miko_." Another demon stepped forth, looking her straight into the eyes. "To you they may be innocent, since you were a human once yourself, but to us it makes no large difference. They persecute us demons none the less, killing us and purifying us, not once thinking about how we feel about them being in _our_ territory. The lands once belonged to our clans and they just settled here and felt it was in their right to kill and exterminate us, not once even considering how we felt about the whole thing. You can barely call them _innocent_ since they killed us too." The demon's eyes held hate towards the humans that were running around and screaming in the village below but her hatred towards the demons never wavered.

"That does not give you the right to kill them like this. For a mere _distraction_." She spat out and looked at the village below, pain clouding her eyes.

Some movement at the sides caught her eye and she stared in surprise as she noted two groups arriving at the village at opposite ends. She saw them waving around their hands and shouting out to the villagers before rushing in. At least that was what one group did. The other one merely surveyed the scene before three broke off from their group and ran to the river that was close by and came back with water and beginning to slowly extinguish the flames. Quickly she and the others hid themselves as they continued to observe the scene below.

Well, she remained, intent on seeing what was going to happen. The other demons vanished, saying that they would go back to the caves and report what had happened here to Hisashi and Naraku.

Within minutes the flames were out and the people were rescued, many crying in despair with what had happened to their village. They talked to both groups, which seemed to recognise one another. Intent on finding out what they were saying, she crept closer to the village, masking her presence with the help of her miko powers.

"Sesshomaru, what are you doing here?" The shorter of the two silver haired men asked the other, she quickly noted that they were youkai, well one of them was a full one while the other appeared to be a hanyou.

"We were following a trail when we saw the smoke. We came to investigate." The taller one called Sesshomaru responded, keeping his sentences clipped and short.

"That's Lord Sesshomaru to you you imbicile!" A small, green, goblin-like creature called out to the shorter one, obviously angered at him. He was also a demon.

"Oh shut it Jaken." A woman came out from behind a larger creature with another young man and they both placed two children onto the ground. They had obviously saved them from the falling debris in the village. The mothers immediately rushed over, crying and fussing over them as they also profusely thanked them both. They both appeared to be human.

"Inuyasha, I think this was the work of some demons." A man clad in the clothing of a monk came forth, followed by a slightly pregnant woman and a small kitsune and a cat with two tails.

"How come?" The one called Inuyasha looked over at the monk and she was shocked to see how well they all appeared to get along. They were humans and demons, how could they get along at all?

"We've found traces of the energies of demons at the outskirts of the village." Another young woman dressed in miko clothes this time appeared. A bow and some arrows were strapped to her back and Midoriko noted with surprise that she resembled Kikyo quite a lot.

"Are they still fresh?" The one called Inuyasha looked at the miko and she nodded.

"Yeah, they're still fresh but from what we can see, they abruptly stop a short distance away from the village. Almost like they began to mask their presence there." She looked annoyed at the act that the demons had performed.

"Maybe we can..." Inuyasha began.

"No." The one called Sesshomaru immediately said, making Inuyasha cast a very annoyed glare in his direction. "We can't detect their smells due to this abominable smoke. I could hardly even detect your smells when I came here. It was only because I know them from before that I was able to recognise them. An unknown smell isn't something we can easily pick out from the air, especially if it's clogged up with the smoke from the fire like this." He waved his hand at the air around him in an abstract manner.

"That..." The monk began.

"Sucks." The pregnant woman finished for him and sat down on the small log that she had been standing next to.

"The demons probably started the fire to throw us off." Midoriko stiffened as she looked over at the young woman who had brought the children from the ruins with the other, slightly younger, man.

"Why do you think that?" Sesshomaru asked her, interest in his eyes.

"Yes, please do explain." The smaller, goblin-like demon said sarcastically. "Why would demons do something like that." His tone held a mocking sing-song. It was obvious that he didn't like the woman all that much. The other humans had gone over and gathered in a group, discussing what they should do now, which left the two groups that had helped them to themselves.

"I've been around long enough to know that demons don't randomly attack villages. It may seem like that to humans, but they actually don't. There is always a clear agenda behind their attack. Whether it is revenge for some other act or due to hunger or place, normal demons don't just attack. And then should they do do that, for some bizarre reason, then they attack the village and cause an utter carnage or significant damage _themselves_. They don't just set the village into flames and retreat. I mean, look at it from their point of view. Why do something as cowardly as retreat and miss out on seeing you enemies suffer? It makes no sense. Which leaves the only logical conclusion that they are attempting to through us off track and distract us." She looked into each of their eyes, the conviction in her own showing that she truly believed this to be the case.

"Which means that we shouldn't let ourselves get distracted." The monk nodded as he appeared to be deep in thought. "And if that is correct then the demons have someone heading them, someone telling them what to do."

"I don't see how it can be any other way by now." The pregnant woman said, anger burning brightly in her eyes.

"But using an innocent human village as a sacrifice, it really is too hard. How dare they do that?!" The miko stated angrily, her eyes also burning brightly.

"From their perspective it might not be that stupid." The young man who had been standing quietly until now spoke for the first time. The other young woman nodded.

"He's right. Although they may haved used this burning as a way to distract us, successfully if I might add, it may have held an element of revenge within it as well. After all, humans have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of demons. So killing a few 'innocent' humans, who have probably done their fair share in persecuting demons, won't weigh down on their conscience in any way, form or manner."

"We should go." Sesshomaru stated calmly. He appeared to want to continue on with their former journey.

"A wise decision Lord Sesshomaru." The smaller goblin nodded happily at him, which earned him an annoyed and frustrated scowl from the other woman.

"We really shouldn't waste much more time." The monk stated placatingly, somehow sensing that some sort of dispute would break out otherwise.

"We'll see you around then." The woman smiled at the group that remained while following Sesshomaru closely. The younger man bid the pregnant woman goodbye by hugging her before running after the retreating figures of his group, waving along the way before vanishing around a bend.

Midoriko pulled back and began to make her way back to the caves. She had heard more than enough. So those two silver-haired men were the two brothers that the others constantly talked about, Inuyasha, the younger brother as well as a hanyou and Sesshomaru, the older one and current Lord of the Western Lands.

She decided to not tell the others that their attempted diversion had failed. She didn't feel like telling them.

What irked her though was the way that one of the women had looked. Those green eyes annoyed her and she felt that she had seen them somewhere before. But that was quite impossible, wasn't it? She had died five hundred years ago after all.


	11. The abandoned village

_ A/N: Thank you to **innocentanimefan** for their review on chapter 10. :) _**  
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_ And also a Happy New Year to you all! I hope that the new year brings many blessings and good fortunes to everyone out there! ;)  
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_ Please R&R! ;D  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 11 - The abandoned village**

"Why?" Inuyasha whined out of nowhere, causing Kagome to jump slightly at the sudden noise. Ever since they had left the burned down village a couple of days ago, they had all kept quiet, not saying much, each left in their own thoughts. Even Shippo had stayed quiet.

"Why what?" Sango looked slightly annoyed at being broken out of her silent reverie.

"I have to agree, it is a pretty ambiguous word to just throw into the air." Miroku looked over at his friend, wondering what was going on in his head.

"Why way Sesshomaru there?" Inuyasha whined again and they all felt a small sweatdrop forming at the back of their heads. That was what he was worried and wondering about?

"Because he's trying to find Naraku like we are." Kagome pointed out ever-so helpfully.

"But why was he in the same area as us?" Inuyasha didn't seem to be very content with just that explanation. He and Sesshomaru might get along better now than three years ago but that didn't mean that a fair amount of competition still remained between the two brothers.

And by getting along better it merely meant that they didn't try to slit each other's throats each time they met. Not much more and not much less.

"Because he's also looking for Naraku and unless Naraku can split up and be in two seperate places at once, then Sesshomaru will also be in the same area as us." Sango said rather sarcastically.

"And we cannot be ahead of them since they started looking before us." Kagome quickly interjected before Inuyasha could ask that. Sometimes he could really act like a kid.

"But we will catch up." Miroku said soothingly. "And we met up at the same time in the same area, so we probably already have. So calm down a bit Inuyasha, we'll reach the slayer's village soon and then we can start looking for Naraku. It won't be long after that that we will find him and beat him like we beat him last time."

"Okay?" Kagome asked and touched him slightly on the arm to calm him down. A small blush began to make its way across Inuyasha's face and he mumbled a quick 'okay' before turning away so that nobody could see the blush that was now gracing his face.

Shippo found that Inuyasha was way too easy to read at times. Kirara silently agreed.

~.~.~.~.~

"We're closing into the old slayer's village." Yukari took a look around herself as she peered at the countryside around her. In her time with the former Lady of the West, Lady Satomi, she hadn't spent all that much time outside of the estates. Yes, they had spent some time travelling from one castle or manor to the next, but other than that they had remained pretty firm in one place.

There had been a time when she had travelled around the country a lot, but that had been a good five hundred years back. It had been just after she got picked up by Lady Satomi and taken in. It had been a time of great unrest and wars, therefore they could never really remain in one place for a very long time. Lord Inutaisho had left Sesshomaru with Lady Satomi and told her to make sure that they weren't found while he went off and battled the various demons attacking the lands.

She did not have a very clear recollection of what her life had been like before she had been taken in by the inu taiyoukai. There were just glimpses from here and there and none of them were particularly nice memories. Most of them were of her being chased out of one village or another because of her inability to age normally like the rest of them. And while as an adult you may be able to get away with looking the same for a good twenty or maybe even thirty years if you were lucky, you could not remain looking like a three year-old for more than a year, maybe two.

Sesshomaru had been a bit different then. More open than he was now. She and him used to get along pretty well but something along the way had changed. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what exactly it was though.

Sesshomaru was thinking along similar lines as he calmly walked down the road alongside Yukari. When he had first met her, a good five hundred years ago, he had thought that she was just another annoying human, another one of his mother's many toys. What none of them had realised at the time was that Yukari was about as much a human as they were. Namingly, not at all.

After being with them for ten years she still looked three years old and roughly fifty years later she looked fourish, maybe five. She aged as fast as he did and by that time they all knew that she wasn't human. But she wasn't a demon either. To this day nobody had really figured out what she was. She had never said what she was, in a way it was almost like that in itself was a mystery to her too.

But they had gotten along well. They had played together as children, she had become more of a playmate to him on their long journeys than a servant to his mother. And that seemed to suit her just fine. She seemed to be happy that she didn't have to worry about him being bored, he always had Yukari to play with.

They had started to drift apart though, even before his father had died. He wasn't sure exactly why though, it was as if his brain locked down when it thought of that, almost like he didn't want to remember to an extent. And after his father had died he began to take over those duties and travelled on different roads than his mother and her entourage did. His mother pulled back into the castles, rarely wishing to leave them, especially the main castle that he was actually supposed to inhibit, while he travelled around the country, feeling more comfortable that way.

And due to the overbearing ways of his mother (and her many attempts to get him together with another woman) he stayed as far away from them as possible, thus also never really seeing her. In fact, it had been the first time in about one hundred years that he had seen her, and despite her only having aged as much as he had (which wasn't really all that much) he had noted that she had changed in many ways.

But he decided not to let his mind go down that road and decided to focus more on his surroundings and their quest to find Naraku.

~.~.~.~.~

"It doesn't look like it's changed all that much." Kagome looked around herself as she peered around the abandoned village of the slayers. It still looked like it was falling apart and the deserted and mysterious air was still present.

"Yeah, it looks like they haven't actually touched the village." Sango looked extremely relieved as she said that, softly brushing her hand against the headstone of the grave that her father lay beneath.

"They've probably just used the rumours of it being haunted as a cover. Everyone in the area is absolutely terrified of the village and the 'curses' it holds." Miroku also looked around, being a bit more careful than the women though since he and Inuyasha had made quite a bad experience with a sneaky demon a couple of months back.

"Probably. They don't seem like the types that would get their hands dirty unless they had to." Inuyasha also never let down his guard, thinking of the same demon that Miroku was thinking of.

"I still don't like it. I agree with the other villagers, it's creepy here." Shippo shivered, whether from the atmosphere of the village or the glare that Sango was sending him couldn't be determined.

Suddenly they heard a rustle behind them and spun around, all of them ready to attack whatever was coming towards them. The frightened face of a woman appeared from the shadows and she gave out a small shriek when she saw them and collapsed on the ground, holding her hand over her heart.

Miroku immediately rushed over to assist her.

"Are you okay madam? We're sorry if we gave you a fright, you surprised us there." He said while slowly rubbing circles on her back. Sango glared at his former 'cursed' hand, remembering such scenarios from the past.

"Yes, I'm alright, I just thought that you were demons there for a second." The woman whispered, finally catching her voice.

"Well, technically speaking, some of us are." Shippo said, earning himself a glare from Miroku and Kagome for his lack of tact. The woman swallowed heavily.

"Don't worry, none of us will hurt you. We're just visiting the graves of this village." Kagome said quickly, attempting to reassure the already frightened woman.

"My family lies here, they were killed in the massacre three years back." Sango said as she herself swallowed heavily. It was still a difficult topic for her to talk about. Looking at her state though, the woman realised that they were speaking the truth. Sango did after all look even more pregnant after the last one and a half months of travelling and she was standing there, now clutching the headstone of her father's grave.

"I'm Airi, and I was looking for my daughter. She's only three years old and she went missing two or three months ago. My husband said that she was probably already devoured by some demon and that it is stupid of me to still continue looking for her but I can't shake the feeling that she's alive somewhere out there." Tears began to form in her eyes as she said that, her head bowing lower.

"I'm sorry, we haven't seen a small girl on our travels through this area." Miroku uttered, knowing that the woman was heartbroken at the apparent loss of her daughter.

"I thought she might be in this abandoned village because she always loved listening to the tales of the slayers that I told her and of the heroes that this village produced." A small smile formed on her features. "She and my friend's son, Naraku, always came and played near here, they said that the best wild blueberries could be found here."

Everyone stiffened as they heard the name.

"Madam, did you just say Naraku?" Miroku managed to choke out, not wanting to believe his ears.

"Yes." Airi nodded. "He was just as old as she was. In fact, they were born on the same day nearly three years back. They were the best of friends and both of them also went missing on the same day. The other children said that they went out to find some wild berries, our families are poor so we never have much to eat, but that they never returned. Some people in the village say that they ran away but I can't believe that. No matter what happened they always came home at the end of the day. And both are such sweet children, they would never do something that might worry us." The until now unshed tears spilled over as she remembered the two children she held so dear in her heart.

"We shall keep our eyes and ears open in case we hear something. Can you tell us what they looked like and which village you live in so that we may be able to find you should we hear something?" Miroku said softly, not really trusting himself to say much more. The others still felt flabbergasted at what they had just heard.

"My daughter Aimi has short black hair and the most gorgeous of brown eyes, so large and endearing. You remind me a bit of her sweety." She said to Kagome who gasped when she heard that. "You look exactly the way that I would imagine her to look when she was older. Naraku has dark brown hair that was just as long as Aimi's for some reason, don't ask me why though and he also has brown eyes. They could appear to be slightly cold at times, and he even gave off quite an intimidating air for a three-year old when he was angry but he is such a sweet boy. He has an enormous heart. Personally I think that he was a bit smitten with my Aimi." She said with a soft smile gracing her features, the flow of her tears now having ceased.

"And we live in that village over there, the one that you can see on the other mountain, about an hour to two hours walk away if you walk down the road briskly. I would be delighted if you heard or saw anything dear monk." She looked at him with a small ray of hope gleaming in her eyes.

"It is no problem, we love to be of help to others." Miroku gave her a charming smile and she walked off, back towards her village and waved them goodbye. As soon as she was gone from sight they all turned to each other, a mixture of dismay and knowing on their faces.

"These Naraku and Aimi people are probably the reincarnations of the Naraku that we knew and the Kikyo that we knew." Sango said bluntly and straight-to-the-point.

"When she said that I reminded her of her daughter I was pretty sure of that too." Kagome said quietly, looking worried.

"And this Naraku boy. He may sound different than the Naraku that we do but I don't really believe in coincidences." Inuyasha's face looked grim.

"Neither do I." Miroku agreed, somehow knowing that the dissappearance of the two children had something to do with Naraku reappearing. The others nodded in agreement.

"But doesn't that mean, that if this Aimi girl also dissappeared, that Kikyo is also back?" Shippo looked at Kirara and then at the others, feeling the need to point out what seemed to be the most obvious thing. The others froze.

"This could be bad. Really bad." Miroku wasn't liking the way things were heading.

"Naraku's one thing, but Kikyo too?" Sango looked at Inuyasha when she said that and Kagome felt a pang in her heart as she heard that. This couldn't be happening, history couldn't seriously be repeating itself again.

"We'll just have to send her back to the realm of the dead, where she belongs, just like Naraku." Inuyasha stated, surprising them all.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome looked confused, was something wrong with him?

"She's died three times, and come back again each time. I decided last time that I would stick to the living and that doesn't change just because she's back. I think that she should stay in the realm of the dead, her time in this world was up a long time ago." Inuyasha looked grim as he said that, but they all saw the honesty in his eyes, as well as the conviction that went with them.

Kagome smiled softly and hugged him, causing Inuyasha to grow all red and splutter, much to their joint amusement.

Turning away from the scene in front of them as Shippo began to tease Inuyasha and Kagome, who was by now also blushing, Miroku and Sango looked down the road that the distressed woman had just left them.

"I feel sorry for her though. She will probably never see those children again." Miroku looked contrite, feeling truly sorry for the woman and her sorrow.

"Yeah." Sango said softly as she leaned against him and he wrapped his arm around her waist.


	12. The Caves

_A/N: __Thanky you to **innocentanimefan** for their review on chapter 11! :)_**  
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_ Not much more to say really...  
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_ Please R&R! ;)  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 12 - The Caves**

"What do you think Inuyasha?" Miroku whispered, not wanting to wake up the others as they had finally fallen asleep.

"It's strange." Inuyasha said simply as he positioned himself against the wall, Tetsusaiga resting against his shoulder.

"What is?"

"Well, the Naraku that we knew three years ago would have spent no time in making us aware in at least some way that he was back to extract revenge. Like with those weird bugs he kept sending after us that poisoned you several times." Inuyasha had his eyes closed, thinking about the situation at hand. All he had so far was a really bad gut feeling though.

"True, he taunted us quite a bit the last time, baiting us. This time he has been abnormally quiet." Miroku mused about the whole scenario, not liking it any more than Inuyasha did.

"And then there is also that the demons appear to be trying really hard to mask their scent. My nose is getting all numb from the weird things they've put in the air here to stop anyone detecting them." Inuyasha opened his eyes which portrayed a fair amount of annoyance while his nose twitched.

"They're trying to mask their scent?" Miroku looked at Inuyasha in surprise.

"Yeah, and they've used some herb or the other which smells quite unpleasant to us demons. I mean, I'm only a hanyou and it annoys the hell out of me, I don't want to imagine what it would be like for Shippo or Kirara. Or even Sesshomaru for that matter. I think it is some kind of herb that miko's use to keep demons away from shrines or something." Inuyasha looked uncomfortable admitting this weakness and Miroku knew that it was only because they had such a good friendship that Inuyasha was able to admit that.

"And using a herb that normally only mikos use... it must mean that Kikyo is actually with them, just like we thought." Miroku didn't like that little fact the most. Last time, Inuyasha had nearly thrown it all away for Kikyo, there always stood the risk that he would do that once again for his old flame.

"Don't worry about me Miroku, I've decided that she belongs in the past." Miroku looked at Inuyasha in surprise, it was almost as if Inuyasha had read his thoughts.

"No I can't read your thoughts." Okay, that was just creepy. "But the doubt is kinda written in your eyes." Inuyasha looked outside, through the door of the old hut that they were currently seeking shelter within from the storm that was beginning to form outside.

"I realised it once Kagome had vanished." Miroku looked closely at Inuyasha's face, recognising the distant look in his eyes. It had been a look he had often worn during the time that Kagome had gone. "I broke down when I thought Kikyo had died. At that moment in time she meant the world to me and I would have done anything to get her back." Inuyasha turned back around to face him. "But when Kagome vanished it felt a hundred times worse. There was this longing within me to see her again and I knew I would do much more to see her again than I had for Kikyo. It's strange. Kagome once said that 'You don't know what you had until you've lost it at least once.' That saying is true. I didn't know just how much I cherished either until I lost them."

"So you won't go after Kikyo again? Can you honestly say that without even a hint of hesitation?" Miroku searched Inuyasha's eyes and face, trying to find any hint of hesitation that might give a lack of resolve away.

"I won't." His voice sounded sure of itself, completely honest. "At the time Kikyo was the only one that I could relate to. She was the only one who tried to make friends with me and I will always love her for that. She was my light at the time, I won't even try to deny that. But Kagome introduced me to all of you guys. She got me to open up to more people than just to herself. And she broke through my barriers much faster than Kikyo did. Maybe my barriers were already weak but I don't think so. After I thought that Kikyo betrayed me I shut myself off completely again, just like I had after my mother's death." Sadness entered his orbs as he thought of his deceased mother.

"And when I lost her, not knowing whether she was still alive or whether she was dead, it hurt so much more. I waited each and every day for her to return to me, to us. You can't imagine what I felt when I saw her on top of me after three long years, it was as if I'd finally found my other half again."

"You know that you sound incredibly cheesy when you say that?" Miroku asked with a smirk. His friend had just indirectly admitted that he was in love with Kagome. It really was infuriating to watch the two of them dance around each other when their emotions were so clear to everyone else.

"Oh shut it." Inuyasha grouched, sending an annoyed glare at his best friend.

Miroku's soft chuckle filled the hut. "It's good to know that you won't jump any ships though my friend." He smiled at him before turning serious once more. "I still have a feeling that there's more to this than we might think though."

"Yeah." Inuyasha grew pensive again.

"Let's sleep for tonight. We can always worry about it tomorrow." Miroku said softly before blowing out the candle and lying down to sleep while Inuyasha silently kept watch. Despite everything, sleep did not come easy to either of them that night.

~.~.~.~.~

"So we're going to explore the caves today?" Kagome and Sango looked over at Inuyasha and Miroku as Shippo and Kirara dug into their joint breakfast.

"We thought it might be a good idea. After all, the forest is pretty big, they could be anywhere and without any of the demons here being able to smell properly due to this strange herb that Inuyasha mentioned..." Miroku pointed to Shippo and Kirara who had small pegs on their noses since otherwise they would probably succumb to the powers of the smell while Inuyasha was holding things that smelled good suspiciously close to his nose...

"It's gotten worse." He said rather defensively, noticing everyone else's eyes on him.

"We didn't ask." Sango said while a sweatdrop formed at the back of her head at the hanyou's not so subtle behaviour.

"Anyway... if we limit the area we're searching in it'll be good for us." Miroku said, obviously trying to pull the attention away from Inuyasha's discomfort. Inuyasha sent him a look of thanks.

"So are we going to split up when we search the caves?" Kagome asked the question that seemed to be the most obvious one. Shippo shook his head fervently, not feeling like it would be a very good idea to split up. Kirara mewed a soft tone at him to reassure him that everything would be alright.

"No, I don't think that that would be a very good idea." Sango raised a brow at Miroku's answer, wasn't that how they always did things though?

"What Miroku means is that considering that Naraku might pop out of anywhere, it wouldn't be wise if we split up. One group might get confronted while the other is too far away to help." Inuyasha pointed out.

"And with the loss of my wind tunnel and Sango's pregnancy, we do have some weaker spots. It could get dangerous for either groups if we split up." Miroku stated calmly, ignoring the pointed glare Sango sent him at the mention of her pregnancy.

"So which cave are we gonna search through first?" Shippo looked up at the others around him before throwing a quick glance at Kirara who nodded at him before he turned back. "There are quite a lot of them and I think that they were quite big the last time we went into them." Worry made itself evident on his face.

"I think we should take the cave where Midoriko is entombed in first." Kagome said quickly before either Inuyasha or Miroku had a chance to speak.

"Why?" Inuyasha turned back around to look at Kagome, he had already started to make his way towards the caves, impatient for a good fight as ever.

"I have this feeling." Kagome shrugged. "But apart from that, demons couldn't enter comfortably the last time we checked so we can check that one pretty quickly. I also wanted to see something about Midoriko. Since I have the complete Shikon no Tama now, I wonder if it might react with her statue."

"I don't like the way you're thinking Kagome but you're probably right. That cave was pretty safe the last time we checked since no demons could really enter it." Miroku didn't like the fact that Kagome wanted to experiment with the jewel around her neck, it normally brought nothing but bad surprises with it.

"Let's go then!" Sango called out happily as she marched off towards the caves, humming a merry tune.

"Wasn't she mad just a second ago?" Inuyasha asked, feeling slightly confused at her sudden change in attitude.

"Yeah..." Shippo trailed off while Kirara nodded, a sweatdrop forming at the back of their heads.

"And it doesn't seem to bother Miroku one bit..." Inuyasha sent his friend a meaningful glance that he completely ignored.

"I'm kind of scared to get married now." Shippo looked even more worried than before. Kagome just shook her had at the lot of them. Boys. They never change.

~.~.~.~.~

"I feel sick..." Jaken muttered nearly unintelligibly as he hung on Kohaku's back. Normally his pride would have prevented him from even touching the young man but right now, his nausea was winning over all. He looked over at Ah-Un in annoyance. The herbivore was able to close his nostrils at will and was thus able to breathe in through the mouth without the smell assaulting his nose.

"We are never mentioning anything about this again." Sesshomaru practically growled. Yukari just smirked as she helped support the proud Lord of the West. Despite already wearing a peg on his nose (which she had to say looked quite ridiculous on him), the smell still managed to invade his overly sensitive nose. She found the smell quite uncomfortable herself, but it didn't make her sick or affected her like it affected the demons. Out of their whole group, Kohaku was the only one who appeared to be completely unaffected by it all.

"Yup. Never mentioning it again." She said quite happily while Sesshomaru scowled at her. She was bloody annoying, that was what she was. He knew perfectly well, after knowing her for a good five hundred years which incidently was nearly his whole life, that she would never let him live this down.

"Is she trying to aggravate Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken's normally heated question came out quite weakly. He really wasn't faring all that well with the smell of the herb in the air. And it only seemed to be getting stronger as they went on.

"Yes, I think she is." Kohaku said quite calmly but with a hint of amusement in his eyes. It really was interesting seeing someone stand up to Sesshomaru. It wasn't something that anyone saw often. Yes, Inuyasha blatantly disrespected his brother in front of others but Sesshomaru did the same too. And they were brothers anyway, so that didn't really count. And Lady Satomi struck fear also in his heart, she really did seem to be slightly off her rocker each time he had met her. Not a kind of lunatic crazy, but rather a much more unsettling calmer crazy. While still appearing to have all her marbles. The mere fact that both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru avoided her like the pest meant quite a lot.

But Yukari just treated him like an equal, and after learning that the two had practically grown up together, Kohaku could kind of see where she was coming from. It was still funny to watch Sesshomaru treat her exactly the same though.

"How about we check those caves first. The smell might not be as bad there and then we can all get used to it a bit more before we venture out into the forest again." Yukari said brightly but nobody but Sesshomaru noticed how she said that 'we' could get used to the smell. So she was obviously affected by it too, though not as strongly as they were.

He would have to remember that for future references.

~.~.~.~.~

"It's strange. The air around the caves feels different than last time." Inuyasha said tentatively as he stared around himself, getting a slightly uncomfortable feeling.

"Don't you mean that it smells different?" Sango asked while continuing to walk forward.

"And how should I smell with this?" Inuyasha said pointedly, pointing his finger at his nose that was currently closed due to the help of a peg. Kagome had had enough of him attempting to appear as if the smell didn't bother him and had just put the peg on the nose. Inuyasha had complained, but he hadn't taken it off either.

"I don't know. It's your nose." Sango said, her mood having switched to grouchy once more. Inuyasha immediately backtracked and hid a bit behind Kagome, not wanting to incur Sango's wrath.

"But I agree with Inuyasha. It feels different than last time." Kagome said softly, feeling a sudden silence fill the air. It was almost as if there was no life near the cave. As if it had all been shut out or silenced. Sango glared at her best friend, feeling slightly betrayed. Miroku sighed as he watched his wife's mood swings. The closer they got to the date, the more difficult she was to predict. It was exhausting trying to keep up.

"I wonder what happen..." Miroku froze as he stared at the cave in front of them. The barrier was gone, everybody could feel that. Not only that, but the claw marks at the sides of the cave clearly indicated the demons that had entered the cave. Silence also came over them. The shock from seeing the once so well protected and holy cave become so worn down was overwhelming.

"The demons entered this cave." Sango breathed out quietly, not wanting to disturb the silence that had the whole area in complete control.

"But... how?" Miroku looked more shocked than anyone else, probably since he knew just how powerful such spells could be against demons.

"Who knows. Why don't we try to find out?" Inuyasha pushed forth, entering the cave with no difficulties at all. He felt apprehensive, this was probably the reason why he had been getting that awful feeling in his gut the last couple of days. Getting closer and closer to the slayer's village had intensified all of his feelings and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Wait a minute Inuyasha!" Kagome rushed after him, Shippo close on her heels, his natural instincts causing a strong sense of fear to rise within him. Miroku and Sango lost no time following. They felt incredibly uneasy too.

Inuyasha came to a sudden stop, causing Kagome to bump into him. Just as she was about to reprimand him for his sudden stop, she saw what he was looking at and her sharp intake of air could be heard throughout the whole cave.

In front of them was a humongous hole where the statue of the petrified Midoriko had once stood. All the demons that had been around her were gone too. No more water dripped from the cave ceilings, the whole place was dry. Parched dry like a desert. The deep scars in the rock walls around them indicated a heavy battle which didn't appear to be all that long ago. At the most a year back.

The whole cave looked like a mess. Apart from the walls, the floors were strewn with rocks and other various debris. In one place, the cave floor had even been torn open, revealing a large crack that ran straight from one wall to the next.

"Oh my..." Kagome held her hands in front of her mouth, completely and utterly stunned. It looked like a war had broken out in here.

"Come on." Inuyasha held out his hand and she took it gratefully, knowing that her knees were feeling weak from seeing so much destruction.

They simply surveyed the cave in silence, not really knowing what to say. There was not that much to be said. Everyone could roughly guess what had happened here. As it happened, none of them were completely right.

"Oh. You guys are here too." They all jumped when they heard a voice to their left and Kagome let out a small squeak. Inuyasha quickly moved in front of her protectively, while Miroku immediately stood in front of Sango.

"Sheesh, calm down. It's only us." And around the corner came Yukari, supporting a rather disgruntled Sesshomaru. Close behind them were Kohaku, who was carrying Jaken, and Ah-Un, who was carrying all of their other stuff.

"Since when have you been here?" Miroku queried, being the first to get his voice back.

"A couple of hours maybe." Yukari said, taking in their appearances and the way the demons all had their noses blocked in some way or the other. "Like you, most of us were pretty affected by the horrendous smell of the herbs someone has scattered in the winds. We thought that maybe if we took refuge in some caves for a while we would be able to recover a bit and get used to it but when we saw this, we couldn't help but explore." She motioned towards the damaged walls with her head.

"Rather, you wanted to explore and none of the others wanted to be left behind." Kohaku said with an amused tone.

"I can't just let that heathen drag Lord Sesshomaru away! Who knows what she would do with him!" Jaken quickly interjected, having regained some of his strength.

"Kohaku or Ah-Un. Could one of you please hit that idiot for me?" Yukari's eyebrow twitched dangerously. Ah-Un gave Jaken a slight tap on the head, seeing as Kohaku was already holding him.

"Thanks Ah-Un." She threw the herbivore a quick look of thanks. Everyone else felt a sweatdrop forming at the back of their heads. They were totally teaming up against Jaken.

"In case you're wondering, the cave just goes on like that. It's completely and utterly torn apart. There's not one bit that we haven't seen that been left unscathed." Yukari's eyes became grim. Sesshomaru knew that she wasn't liking this any better than the rest of them. She normally knew what was going on and not knowing something set her on edge.

"That's really strange." Sango said softly, more to herself than anyone else, but because of the quiet everyone heard it loud and clear.

"I really do wonder what happened here." Miroku and Inuyasha relaxed a bit, knowing that the ones that had surprised them weren't demons or any other enemies.

"This hole seems to never end." Shippo's loud voice surprised them all. They spun around to see him leaning over the hole, peering down into it with Kirara by his side.

"Shippo..." Inuyasha growled dangerously, not taking it in a good way that he was being surprised so many times in one day.

"Be careful!" Kagome called out to the younger kitsune. "You might fall!"

"Don't worry Kagome, I'll be fi-aaah!" Shippo suddenly lost his grip on the small outcropping of rocks that he had been holding onto. Kirara rushed forward to catch him with her mouth and also slipped on the surprisingly wet rocks.

"Shippo! Kirara!" Sango and Kagome rushed forward when suddenly a bright light came out of the hole, engulfing them all within it.


	13. Time travel

_A/N: Thank you to **innocentanimefan** and **CityOfFallenAshes** for their reviews on chapter 12, your support is really encouraging. :) _**  
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_ I know that the flow of the story may be slow at the moment but please have some patience, the pace will pick up soon. ;)  
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_ RxExR!  
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><p><strong>Timeless<strong>

**Chapter 13 - Time travel**

"Get off of me you moron." An annoyed voice penetrated into Inuyasha's conscience and he felt himself stir.

"I could say the same to you. Idiot." Another voice, sounding just as annoyed replied. So that last statement hadn't been directed at him.

"Somehow we're getting way too used to situations like this." A familiar voice replied. In fact, they all sounded pretty familiar.

"Shut it Kohaku." The two previous voices said in unision.

"It's true though, you two always seem to end up in situations like this." Inuyasha began to slowly open up his eyes. He felt like he'd just been crushed by a tonne of bricks.

"Please do not remind us of the unwelcome predicament that we currently find ourselves in." Ah, that voice was that woman's voice, Yukari was her name if he remembered it correctly. He heard sounds of shuffling and turned his head to the side.

The first thing he saw was Yukari and Sesshomaru detangling one another as they got up from their rather uncomfortable positions on the ground. And the way that Kohaku was acting made him believe that this happened quite a lot. It was still pretty hard to imagine his brother frequently being in such a position though. Maybe it had something to do with the way that he had been acting the last time they had seen him in the village.

"Hn." Sesshomaru simply answered to Yukari's statement from before. He didn't really want to be reminded of it that much either, despite the fact that he couldn't change it.

"Ah..." Something above him stirred and Inuyasha noticed that there were others on top of him. Really, what had happened to them all?

Sango had somehow, quite miraculously, ended up at the top of the pile. Kagome was underneath her, also beginning to stir. Miroku was wedged between him and Kagome and he had to say that all in all it wasn't a very comfortable thing, being at the bottom of a pile of people. It actually was quite uncomfortable.

"Where are we?" Shippo's voice came from his right and he turned his slightly throbbing head towards the kitsune's voice. He and Kirara had somehow managed to end up slightly further away from them and were beginning to come to their senses themselves.

"Not sure." He said briefly, his breathing still being constricted by the weight on top of him.

"Sango dear, while I love you with all my heart, could you please get off the pile?" Miroku asked shortly, he was also short of breath. Kagome muttered something in agreement.

"Oh. Sorry." Sango got down from the top and they all breathed in deeply as there was one person less lying on top of them now. Kagome and Miroku quickly followed suit, and soon all of them were catching their breaths as they sat on the ground.

"So... where the hell are we?" Yukari asked as she and Sesshomaru stretched. Kohaku smirked internally, knowing exactly why the two of them were so used to situations like this. It really was a little amusing seeing his sister's and her group's questioning faces at their quick recovery.

"Not sure." Inuyasha still kept his answers short. He was finally able to breathe in properly.

"All I remember is Shippo falling into a well and Kirara falling in right after him." Miroku rubbed his head as he tried to remember what had happened.

"We were falling. I am sure that we were falling." Sango mentioned.

"And there was a light. A very bright light." Kagome added.

"So we've established that there was a light and that we were falling. Great." Inuyasha muttered sarcastically, earning himself a smack on the back of the head from Kagome. Miroku winced slightly at the action, remembering his own, still slightly hurting, head.

"I can see temporal ribbon particles floating around. The good thing's already gone though, so we probably have to go down that hole to the time that we came from." Yukari pointed her hand back towards the forest.

"We have to find a hole?" That was Kohaku's voice.

"In a forest?" Sesshomaru did not sound amused.

"Sorry. Can't be of any more help. I don't know how long we were out of it but I can definitely say that we travelled through time. Not much more though." Yukari shrugged her shoulders.

"So we're either in the past or the future?" Miroku asked to specify. Yukari nodded. "And how do you know that we have to find a hole?" The others turned to her, interested to know about that little fact too.

"It's like the bone eater's well that the others told me about. The one that you, Inuyasha, and you, Kagome, could travel through. You went through a well both ways. So if we came through a hole to this time, we have to go back through a hole to that time."

"That appears logical at least." Miroku agreed while trying to gather his straying thoughts. He had never travelled through time before, and quite frankly it felt like a part of his brain had been fried. Well, fried temporarily only he hoped.

"So we need to find a hole in a forest." Sango stated, her head feeling similar to Miroku's.

"That isn't going to be easy." Kagome looked around herself as she spotted a forest a bit further back. "Why aren't we in that hole or near it though if we travelled through it?" She turned back to face the rest of the group.

"Probably because so many of us travelled through time. It probably distorted the location of where we would land." Yukari peered around herself as well, taking in the rest of her surroundings and also thinking of which route they should take to get back to their own time. Kagome blanched slightly as she looked at her and Sesshomaru and squeaked slightly, causing them all to look at her, wondering if she was alright.

"What's the matter Kagome?" Inuyasha was immediately worried and touched her on her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly.

"They're... transparent... ish." Kagome pointed a quivering finger at Sesshomaru and Yukari and the others paled as they realised that too, looking at the two of them. Sesshomaru and Yukari quickly looked at themselves and then one another before realising that too.

"What's the meaning of this?" Sesshomaru wasn't all too happy with the fact that he was nearly see-through.

"Probably because we are still alive in whatever this era is." Yukari stated calmly but Sesshomaru and the others in his team could see by her eyes that she was anything but calm. She was freaking out in fact about her lack of consistence.

"And what about us? Does that mean we're dead?" Sango asked, swallowing heavily.

"Either that or you're not alive yet." Yukari's brow furrowed. They were probably in the past. She found it very unlikely that everyone had died. But then again, you never really knew.

"I hope we're in the past." Inuyasha muttered, not all too happy with the possibility of all of them being dead.

"So do I." Kagome said softly. "So do I."

~.~.~.~.~

"So tell us, why are you two always so close together?" Kohaku, Ah-Un and Jaken flinched as they looked over at Shippo, willing him to stop talking with their eyes. He seemed rather intent on ignoring that though as he continued to look up at Yukari, finding Sesshomaru too scary to try and attempt something like that.

"It's a very long story." Yukari said briefly while Sesshomaru appeared to glare into the countryside rather randomly. Inuyasha swore he could hear something very close to swearing coming out of his brother's mouth. He disregarded the thought almost immediatly though, his brother was too dignified for something like that.

"Is it a good one?" Shippo looked up curiously, his eyes still displaying a large amount of childish innocence and curiousity. By now Kohaku and Jaken were shaking their heads rapidly at Shippo and making signs in an attempt to get him to stop. Miroku and Sango looked at them in confusion while Inuyasha and Kagome concentrated on Shippo, quite interested to know themselves. Kirara shook her head at the young kitsune's naivety.

"Not really." Yukari smiled thinly at him, obviously trying to avoid the topic, to no avail of course. Once Shippo got interested in something, he didn't stop badgering that person until he knew what was going on.

"Then what kind of story is it?" He tilted his head to the side slightly.

"One where my mother is involved." Sesshomaru said with a large amount of annoyance in his voice while Yukari nodded in agreement, her own expression darkening. Before Shippo could continue though, a loud shout of 'Sesshomaru!' rang out from the path they had been walking near to.

Everyone froze. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru shuddered. They would be able to recognise that voice anywhere. It was the voice of Lady Satomi.

"What have you done this time?" The former Lady of the Western Land's voice held a fair amount of annoyance within it. Everyone in the group looked at Sesshomaru who was standing looking at the path through the trees to their right absolutely rigid.

"We were building mud-huts." A young boys voice said and everyone was now looking at the path. By now it had become clear that Lady Satomi wasn't talking to the Sesshomaru that was standing right next to them, but rather the small boy with silver hair up until his shoulders in front of her.

She looked a bit younger than when they had seen her several weeks ago and she was also being accompanied by an entourage of two maids and two guards, and neither of the maids looked like the one they had seen with her the last time around.

"Yeah, we were just building mud-huts." The small girl standing next to Sesshomaru piped up and Jaken's and Kohaku's mouths fell open as they saw a miniature version of Yukari standing up to Lady Satomi. From the angle that they were watching the whole proceedings they could clearly recognize the auburn hair and emerald eyes that the older version of her also possessed.

"Mud-huts?" Lady Satomi raised an eyebrow at them while one of the maids tried to keep back a chuckle.

"Mm-hmm." Both of them nodded in unision.

"Then can you care to tell me why you are so dirty if you were simply building them?" Lady Satomi was obviously trying not to lose her temper and admittedly, the younger Sesshomaru and Yukari were quite a sight to see, covered from head to toe in mud. They was barely a spot on them that hadn't been in contact with mud and dirt at some point.

"She fell." Sesshomaru pointed a finger at Yukari.

"He tripped." She said at the same time and they both turned their heads to glare at one another. Somehow Kohaku got the feeling that they had always been like this.

"We are supposed to meet your father at the next place we are resting at and you expect me to tell him that you _tripped_ while building _mud-huts_?" A vein popped on her forehead and the younger Yukari and Sesshomaru took a careful step backwards.

"It's true though!" The small Yukari piped up. Sesshomaru nodded in agreement.

"Uri... go and get them washed... _now_." Lady Satomi grinded out and the maid called Uri stepped forward.

"Of course my lady, it shall be done right away. Come along now you two." Uri smiled calmly at serenly at the two small children and they immediately bounded forward to follow her and to escape from Lady Satomi.

"Come on Sesshomaru!" The small Yukari called and took his hand in hers as they ran across the field to where the river was. Uri followed sedately behind them, holding their fresh clothes in her hands.

"They are going to be the death of me..." Lady Satomi groaned as she sank to the ground while the other maid quickly ran forward to catch her.

"Now, now my lady. They are just children. I am sure that they will calm down as they get older." Lady Satomi did not seem reassured by these words at all.

Inuyasha turned from their viewing position to ask Yukari and Sesshomaru something but all he saw were their fast retreating backs into a different direction. It was clear to Kohaku, Jaken and Ah-Un that they were walking with the maximum amount of distance between them while beginning to converse about the weather.

It was clear to all of them though by that point that they were in the past and not the future.

~.~.~.~.~

"Now that we have kind of determined that we are in the past, what do we do now?" Miroku asked, trying to dispell the heavy atmosphere that had settled over the group. Well, more over Yukari and Sesshomaru but that was beside the point.

"Well, it's kind of obvious that we have to find the hole so that we can get back to our own time." Kagome said and Inuyasha nodded in agreement.

Before he could say anything though, Yukari's voice interrupted them. "What I've been wondering about though is why we were sent to this time and not some other time. Usually with these kinds of things, it is quite clear why one is sent back that definite number of years like with the bone eater's well."

Sango looked thoughtful as she considered what the other woman had said. "The last time we were here, there was the petrified statue of Midoriko, the priestess who created the Shikon no Tama, in the cave in roughly that spot."

"Maybe we were sent back to the time that she was alive then?" Shippo asked and the others thought about it, it didn't seem that implausible. In fact, it was probably the most likely answer as to why they gone back five hundred years in time.

"Did you guys ever meet Midoriko?" Inuyasha turned to Sesshomaru and Yukari as they were obviously the only ones that had been alive at the time.

"I have never met her as far as I know." Sesshomaru shook his head.

"I don't think I have either but then again, I can't be sure." Yukari shrugged her shoulders, she wasn't exactly sure whether she had or not. One part of her said she had, the other said that she hadn't.

"So we might even have the chance to meet her in this era?" Sango looked excited at the prospect of possibly meeting the woman who had been an icon to her village.

"It's highly probable. I mean, if what you say is true about her statue standing there before then it probably is. A portal always has some sort of connection between the two places." Yukari shrugged, not really caring either way.

"Then maybe if we find Midoriko we would be able to get some answers into what is happening in our time." Miroku said after a couple of minutes of thinking it all through. He liked the idea of being able to meet such a well-known person, maybe she would even be able to give him some more ideas for fighting demons, considering that his wind tunnel was now gone.

"You want to go and find Midoriko?" Kohaku looked suprised at the prospect.

"I don't see why not. We're stuck here in this time anyway so we might as well make use of it. I doubt that we're ever going to be able to meet her again anyway." Miroku was pretty sure now that he wanted to meet her, it was a once in a life time opportunity.

"You want to go and find a priestess that exorcises demons for a living when half of our group is made up of demons?" Yukari looked doubtful at the whole idea.

"People were even more hostile towards demons in this era." Sesshomaru stated calmly, not looking as if it bothered him one bit.

"Well they don't need to know that we have demons in our midsts, do they?" Kagome stated, completely sure that her plan would work.

"You want to fool a miko that makes her living out of tracking down demons?" Yukari looked extremely doubtful by now. Kohaku and Jaken also looked like they weren't sure what to think of the plan. Sesshomaru was as impassive as ever.

"But she'll never even guess that humans would get along with demons, let alone befriend them. She won't doubt us at all." Kagome smiled brightly.

"She's right." Inuyasha nodded. "And we won't know until we try anyway."

"We have no choice in the matter, do we?" Yukari turned to Sesshomaru and the two had a rare moment of agreement.

"Hn." Was all he stated.

"If Lord Sesshomaru says so then we will also go along with you. But we will continue looked for the portal." Jaken said importantly.

"How did he know what Sesshomaru said?" Kagome looked in confusion at Jaken as they continued on through the forest, now having another purpose along with their original one.

"A life-long study of his language." Sango said wisely, a hint of amusement in her eyes.


	14. Midoriko

_ A/N: Thank you so much to **innocentanimefan** for their review on chapter 13! :) I know that it's been ages since I updated this but I promised to finish it so I will, the inspiration for the story was simply gone for quite some time. Nevertheless I hope that you enjoy this chapter! :)_

_ RxExR_

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><p><em>Timeless<em>

_Chapter 14 - Midoriko_

"I'm bored." Shippo's voice broke through the monotony of their travels through the woods. It had been a whole day since they had become stranded here in the wrong time and despite their wish to return as quickly as possible, nothing happened. It felt like they were travelling in circles, as if they were trapped in some sort of spell.

And not only had they failed to find their way back, they had not had any luck in their search for Midoriko. She was the only real clue they had that linked the past and the present and Miroku and Kagome were sure that once they met her, they would be able to solve the whole mystery of their being here.

Why they were so convinced about it though was still a mystery to them.

"Have patience Shippo, we'll probably find our way out of the forest soon." Sango smiled reassuringly at the kitsune who just sighed wearily.

"Okay." He murmered, somehow feeling that had he put up any more of a fight then Sango wouldn't have been as accomodating.

"Why don't we rest for the night first and then try again tomorrow?" Kagome looked up at the sky as it began to grow darker. She didn't know about the others, but she felt extremely uncomfortable travelling at night, especially if they were in an era where they knew nobody but the ones that had come with them.

"I think that would be a good idea." Miroku said as he looked over at his wife. She might not want to admit it but she was a pregnant woman and therefore the pregnancy was taking its toll on her, no matter what she might say.

"Hn." Sesshomaru's non-commital answer came a couple of seconds later and the others took that as his consent. They looked over at Jaken to be sure though and saw him sit down against a tree. Yup, that meant that they were going to go and find a good place to sleep now.

"There's a clearing up ahead." Kohaku nodded to the front of them and they all looked that direction to see where he was pointing.

"It looks like a good place." Inuyasha said as he peered around the clearing first to make sure that no one else was there as well. They had nearly had a run-in with some other travellers during the previous day who had thought that they were demons. Which they were but they couldn't exactly go around flaunting that fact in this era.

"Then we'll rest here." Yukari said as she plonked herself at the base of a tree rather ungracefully. Sesshomaru settled himself down next to her and the two of them were asleep almost immediately. Inuyasha had to admit that over the course of the last couple of days he had seen more sides of his brother than he had ever known to even exist.

"The two of them are rather tired, aren't they?" Miroku asked, looking over at Kohaku, Jaken and Ah-Un. The large herbivore had curled itself into what looked like a ball, its eyes shut tightly as its breaths began to grow deeper and longer.

"Yup." Kohaku said as he himself settled at the base of a tree. He would be keeping watch first with Jaken for the next two hours before Sesshomaru and Yukari would take over. They would then pass the duty on to Kagome and Shippo, while the final watch would be held by Inuyasha and Miroku. They had worked out this schedule the previous night, having decided that they would rather be safe than sorry. Sango had of course protested quite loudly about her exclusion from the whole schedule but they had all managed to convince her that it would be better for her if she slept the whole night without having to put up with the extra strain of keeping watch. Kirara and Ah-Un woke up from time to time and assisted their watches but since they were carrying them throughout the day, they had decided that it would be better to let them sleep too. The two demons had been extremely grateful for that particular decision.

"Are they always that..." Miroku thought about what word he could use without insulting the two of them.

"Temperamental?" Kohaku suggested helpfully and Miroku nodded. Kagome and Sango set about making a fire to keep away other creatures during the night and to provide them with additional warmth. The demons and Yukari may be used to resting without the warmth of a fire nearby, but they preferred the additional light in an otherwise pretty dark forest.

"I don't know." Kohaku shrugged, after all, he didn't actually know how long they had known each other, but from what he had seen of the interaction between their two younger counterparts, then the two of them had always been like this. Although maybe not as temperamental as the two of them were now.

"Sesshomaru's always been quite particular about people." Inuyasha had come back from checking the borders of the clearing for anyone, or anything for that matter, that might have been hiding away in the thick shrubs that marked the edge of the clearing. "And even you have to admit that his behaviour around Yukari is rather unusual Jaken." He interjected before the small green goblin could rise to defend his master as he usually did.

"Lord Sesshomaru never mentioned her before I met her when she came with that missive from Lady Satomi." Jaken said tiredly. It had been a long day and all he wanted to do was curl up against Ah-Un and sleep the night away if he were perfectly honest about it.

"They seem to know each other rather well though." Miroku mused as he looked over at their sleeping forms.

"And from what we saw, they've known each other since they were children." Kagome added. She was rather intrigued by Yukari, she wasn't a demon, that much was for certain and yet she had obviously managed to live for several hundred years without aging all that much.

"It is rather complex." Sango agreed as Miroku helped her unpack her futon before moving along to unpack his own and lay it down next to hers. They were a good few metres away from the fire to avoid the possibility of their futons catching flames, but still close enough to profit from the warmth.

"Well, she's definitely been with the old hag as long as I can remember." Inuyasha said and grumbled slightly when Kagome shot him a look for his use of language. Nevertheless she put her futon down next to him and slid underneath its covers with her head on his lap. To say that he was surprised would have been an understatement. And he wasn't the only one.

Truth was, she was tired of dancing around her crush on him. The fact that they had been catapulted into the past twice within a relatively short period of time had shown her just how quickly a situation could change and she wasn't willing to wait any longer.

And with that a sort of comfortable silence fell around the clearing as they all began to doze off, some of them taking longer than others while two of them remained awake to keep watch.

~.~.~.~.~

The sun rose slowly over the horizon the next day and Inuyasha and Miroku watched as the world was gradually bathed in hues of reds, oranges and yellows. As the sunlight peeked through the leaves of the trees the others began to wake. Bird song filled the meadow and the peaceful setting gave Inuyasha hope that they would maybe find their way back to their own time today.

"You feel it too?" Inuyasha turned his head to the side to see Miroku getting up slowly.

"Yup." He nodded. It was all Miroku needed to know. Nobody felt truly well about the whole 'stuck-in-the-past' thing, so the feeling that they would be able to make it to their own time today made the two of them feel hopeful.

"Rise and shine everyone!" Miroku called out as the others groaned. "We have a long day in front of us." And he chuckled when he heard muttered curses flying towards him. None of the people here were morning people by the looks of it.

"Five more minutes mum..." Kagome muttered softly and Inuyasha knelt down beside her and began shaking her gently.

"Kagome... you have to wake up now." His voice was soft and Miroku once again wondered how long it would take those two to get together, it was almost painful to watch. Nevertheless, he had his own sunshine to wake up.

"Sango, sweetheart, you have to get up now." He said as he shook her awake.

"Ugh... What time is it?" She asked, her voice still laden with sleep.

"The sun rose a short while ago." Miroku replied and Sango slowly sat up, cracking the joints in her neck, back and arms as she stretched. The movements always reminded Miroku of Kirara and cats in general.

Kirara herself was stretching, while Shippo was trying valiantly not to fall back asleep. Kohaku was yawning and rubbing his eyes to wipe away any remnants of his sleep, while Jaken was already up and waking Ah-Un as Yukari detangled herself from Sesshomaru who was still not completely awake.

"We should probably get going as soon as the sun has started to rise." Miroku pointed out to the others and sounds of approval met his ears. "I'd say we should also probably eat breakfast quite quickly, Inuyasha and I have been hearing noises in the past hour, well Inuyasha has, my ears aren't as good, and they're moving towards us." That got the others up more quickly and it was soon after that they got up and started to travel down the well worn road that was leading through the forest once more.

It was two hours later that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both stopped and sniffed the air around them carefully. Someone was heading towards them and the scent was female. Maybe it was Midoriko. At least they hoped it was so that they might be able to go back to their own time soon.

"Come on, we need to hide." Yukari said to Sesshomaru, somehow guessing that they believed that Midoriko was coming towards them.

They all watched as the semi-transparent Yukari and Sesshomaru left and hid in the bushes or somewhere within hearing distance as the rest of them worked on making themselves appear more human. If they wanted their plan to work they would have to be convincing.

Kohaku already looked like a warrior guarding someone so he had no problem. Kagome and Miroku were in their priestess and priest clothes respectively so it looked like he was guarding them. Shippo quickly pulled some longer trousers out of his bag to hide his fox legs and flattened his ears down with some sort of shawl. Sango gave Inuyasha her weapons and therefore only looked like a normal pregnant woman, while Shippo looked like a child that was accompanying her.

Inuyasha decided to go along with Jaken, Ah-Un and Kirara as they left to hide as there really was no way to disguise them in any manner and Inuyasha thought that it probably would be best to leave the talking to Miroku and Kagome.

Slowly they all travelled along, some of them on the road, the rest of them in the bushes and the undergrowth of the forest. It wasn't long before they finally reached some crossroads where they also met another priestess who greeted them. Because they had seen the statue before it had vanished, they knew that the woman was Midoriko, despite her weapons.

"Greetings priestess." Miroku and Kagome stated and Midoriko replied in kind. Sango and Shippo merely nodded and made a respectful gesture before appearing to continue down the road as though they weren't travelling with Kagome and Miroku.

They quickly fell into some small talk before talking about their own problems with demons, it appeared as if that was a common topic of the time. Kagome and Miroku used examples of the demon encounters that they had had over the years while Midoriko talked of ones that she had had in this time.

"I was wondering, Priestess Midoriko, whether you knew any helpful herbs in keeping demons away. The standard ones that we are using do not appear to be having any effect anymore." Kagome stated, believing that they couldn't spend too long chatting away, they had to get the information that they needed before getting back to their own time. Miroku on the other hand seemd slightly awed by the woman standing in front of them. Kohaku merely kept the respectful distance that a guard was meant to take and observed the countryside.

"Yes, there are a couple that I tend to use that have proven to be quite helpful over the years, would you like to have some of them so that your shrine is better protected until you manage to grow your own?" Midoriko had been nothing but polite so far and yet Kagome could not shake the feeling that there was more to this woman than she allowed to be seen.

"That would be wonderful." Kagome flashed a bright smile which Miroku also echoed.

"Once the demons are near though, you should eradicate them as quickly as possible." Midoriko continued on, "They are loathsome creatures and their kind should be flushed from this earth. They are nothing but pure evil." The look in her eyes was hard and Kagome nearly flinched at the hatred portrayed deep within them. Miroku's brows furrowed slightly as he contemplated her deep dislike towards demons.

"I suggest that you attempt to make some of the demons believe that you mean well with them and get them to cooperate with you, that way it's easier to kill them all off at once. They will have their defenses down and it will take less of an effort to get rid of them." Midoriko suggested and Kagome thanked her friends back in her own time for dragging her off to the festivals and drama clubs so often so that her true feelings wouldn't show right now and she was able to act as if she agreed with Midoriko.

"Is it really easier that way?" Miroku asked, only Kagome and Kohaku noting the suddenly hard look in his eyes.

"Yes, if I weren't so well known in these parts as someone who offs those foul creatures, I would employ such a tactic myself." Midoriko stated calmly, as if the mere thought of slaughtering so any demons, whether innocent or guilty, didn't bother her at all. "I do have to get going though, I've heard of some demons gathering a little bit east of here. It was a pleasure meeting you, Priestess Kagome and Monk Miroku." She said with a small nod of her head and after their own farewells she left in a direction different to the one that they had come from and they set off down the road that Shippo and Sango had gone, all three of them deep in thought.

Once they rounded the corner they found that the ghost like Yukari and Sesshomaru had rejoined Inuyasha, Kirara, Jaken and Ah-Un who had some out of the bushes to meet up again with Sango and Shippo.

"She obviously hates demons with a passion." Sango said and the other three nodded.

"And the way she talked about infiltrating the demon groups, I'd nearly say that she's done that in our time." Miroku mentioned.

"It probably happened around the time that you vanished with the Shikon no Tama Kagome." Sango began and the others turned to listen, "The jewel is her heart after all so maybe the vanishing of her heart led her to be released from her state as a statue."

"It sounds plausible but we shouldn't make any assumptions before we know better." Yukari commented.

"But these herbs are definitely the ones that we smelt back in our time." Inuyasha pointed at the herbs as if they were an offensive being.

"Hn." Sesshomaru appeared to agree.

"And if they were a personal favourite of Midoriko's then she probably is alive in our time." Sango stated.

"We should get back as soon as possible, we won't know until we return anyway. We do have some ideas about it now though." Miroku said and the others nodded.

The sooner they got home the better.


	15. Back To The Present

_ A/N: Thank you so much to **innocentanimefan** for their review on chapter 14! And yes, Midoriko is alive in their time (kind of) and Inuyasha and Kagome will get together soon. ;)_

_ RxExR!_

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><p><em>Timeless<em>

_Chapter 15 - Back to the Present_

After the encounter with Midoriko, all of them were put slightly on edge. If a legendary priestess was also involved with Naraku and his lot then things were a lot worse than they had originally anticipated. Now that they had met Midoriko though, they put their full efforts back into finding the 'hole' that would let them jump back into their own time.

"Okay, let's think about this logically," Kagome began and everyone turned away from their thoughts to listen to what she had to say, "The bone eater's well was always in the same place, no matter what time I was in and when I came back to this time a short while back, I'm pretty sure that the others and I landed in the same place where we were standing back in our own time. So wouldn't it be the most logical conclusion if the hole that we need to go down or whatever is in exactly the same place as it was in our time?" She looked around at all of the others and Sango looked back at her thoughtfully.

"So we basically have to find our way back to the caves and then we can find the hole is what you're saying?" She asked.

"I think so, yes." Kagome nodded.

"Well, it's the best guess we have, and as you're the only one who's ever actually travelled through time rather frequently, it's probably also the answer." Miroku stated and Inuyasha nodded in agreement after thinking it over. It did sound right.

"Okay, well if I try to remember back to this time," Yukari furrowed her brows, "then I think we are probably in the forest that we travelled through back in our time." She looked over at Sesshomaru for confirmation.

"I do remember Mother telling us about staying close to her as a demon slayer village was close by." Sesshomaru stated.

"So we should try and find the village and from there we can find our way back home." Shippo looked ecstatic at the thought of leaving this time behind them.

"Okay, let's do that then." Miroku agreed.

"Kohaku." Sesshomaru looked at the young man who nodded, he knew what the demon lord wanted him to do.

"Come on Jaken, we're going on Ah-Un." He was already walking towards the herbivorous demon who also knew what he was supposed to do.

"But-" Jaken began, then saw the look on Sesshomaru's face. He sighed rather wearily and then followed Kohaku. When his master had _that_ look in his eyes, there really was no way of saying 'no' or disobeying him.

The others merely watched Kohaku and Jaken in confusion and then realisation settled in as they saw Kohaku and Jaken mount Ah-Un and take off into the sky.

"I see. They can get a better view from in the sky." Miroku muttered.

"Should we do the same on Kirara? The more eyes, the better." Kagome asked and Miroku nodded after looking over at Sango who pouted a bit as due to her condition it wouldn't be the safest thing in the world for her to do. By some unspoken consent, Inuyasha accompanied Kagome and sat down on Kirara behind her. Shippo made a noise underneath his breath. It really was rather obvious to anyone watching of just how much the white-haired hanyou cared for Kagome.

"We'll travel by foot then." Miroku said to Shippo, Sango, Yukari and Sesshomaru.

"Okay." Yukari nodded and began to follow after Sesshomaru who had already beginning to walk away. It was obvious that he really had no interest at all in travelling in a group. He probably wanted some peace and quiet after being exposed to his brother's companions for so many days in a row now.

Shippo began to run through the undergrowth, he felt quite relieved to have some time to himself too. He wasn't quite as young as he had been four years ago when he had been found by Inuyasha and Kagome and had begun travelling with them, therefore he had begun to value time that he got for himself where he could merely think. Yes, he was still as curious as he had been back then and yes, he was still a child, but he had learned that having some time to oneself really was a blessing.

Especially when one had a kitsune master as talkative as his own.

Sango and Miroku were also quite glad to have some time to themselves and their hands met and Sango's slipped comfortably into Miroku's and they gave off the perfect image of a pregnant woman with her husband out on a stroll. They were still looking for the village, but they were also allowing each other some time to relax after the chaotic atmosphere of the last few weeks and travelling on the road.

Hopefully it wouldn't take long to find the slayer's village and therefore the way back to their own time.

~.~.~.~.~

It was past midday and they had already landed to eat lunch before launching off into the sky once more and there were still no signs of the slayer's village. Kagome had to admit that if she weren't such an eternally optimistic person, she would have begun despairing quite a while back.

Luckily she had other things to worry about though that kept her from even thinking about despairing.

And they had absolutely nothing to do with finding the slayer's village or finding their way back to their own time.

It had to do with the fact that she had her arms clamped tightly around Inuyasha's waist as he sat in front of her on Kirara, mirroring the way that he had kept a tight grip on her when they had been flying before lunch and she had been sitting in front of him.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha's voice made her pull away from her thoughts and concentrate on him and what he had to say.

"Yes?" She asked as his head remained turned to the front so that she was unable to actually see his expression.

"I was just wondering..." He swallowed and then remained silent. Her brows furrowed in irritation as she waited for him to continue. He didn't.

"What were you wondering about?" She asked then because she really didn't like to be left hanging after her curiousity was piqued.

"Um..." He coughed.

"Inuyasha." His name passed her lips more as a sigh than anything else.

"Iwaswonderingwhetheryouwantedtogooutwithme?" His sentence came out garbled and quick and she couldn't really be all that sure whether she had understood him at all.

"What?" She asked, the annoyance now beginning to leak into her throat. Kirara shook her head in exasperation as she continued to fly. She had understood what Inuyasha had said perfectly fine but Kagome did not have any demonic hearing therefore she wouldn't have. She was glad that the hanyou had _finally_ managed to say something about his feelings but this...

Inuyasha cleared his throat and turned around and it was the first time that Kagome noted how absolutely nervous he looked.

"I was wondering whether you wanted to go out with me?" Her mouth fell open, words completely escaping her. "When we get back to our own time of course." He added softly, taking in her shocked expression.

There were many things that she wanted to say but the first thing that came from her mouth once she had found her voice again was; "Where did you learn about going out?"

Kirara felt like banging her head against a very hard tree. Seriously, that was the first thing Kagome had thought to say after such a question?

Inuyasha blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head, a gesture that Kagome had seen him use whenever he was nervous.

"Well, when we went to your time, I heard you and your friends talk about it a lot and I'm not exactly sure if you like me so I just thought that this was maybe the best way to..." And now he was rambling. Kirara was seriously considering crashing into a tree right now to relieve the tension. Yes, they may not be as old as she was and know how to ask certain things but really, this was taking the cake on awkward proposals. Because in the long run, it couldn't really be seen as anything else although the two morons sitting on her might like to kid themselves into thinking differently. Anyone with eyes in their head could see that they were going to end up together.

And then Kagome did something that assured Kirara that at least one of them wasn't as idiotic as they sometimes acted.

She pulled Inuyasha down and kissed him on the lips, thereby effectively shutting him up and stopping his rambling. Blessed silence met Kirara's ears as she heard a bird chirp somewhere in the forest below.

It was a soft kiss and both Inuyasha and Kagome were shocked by the amount of feelings the kiss appeared to project to each other.

"I'd love to." Kagome grinned at him and this time Inuyasha turned around a bit more (without falling off of Kirara of course) and pulled her closer for another kiss.

"That's great." He returned and kissed her on the lips again.

Kirara knew that she would be the only one looking for the demon slayer's village for the next hour or so, as the two on her back were obviously occupied with other things.

~.~.~.~.~

"What about Hikaru?" Sango asked and Miroku looked at the bush they were passing by, deep in thought.

"Light or radiance? That would be a good name but I'm not sure if that would fit." He replied.

"Our relationship blossomed after the light and radiance of the Shikon no Tama." Sango pointed out.

"Yeah, but do you want to tell our son that reason when he asks why he was named like that?" Miroku asked.

Sango pondered on that thought for a couple of seconds. "I guess I can see your point." She conceded.

"Itsuki?" Miroku questioned next.

"I am not naming my son after some timber trees." Sango said with utter conviction.

"Osamu?" Sango asked after a couple of minutes of walking in silence.

"While the meaning may be nice as I'd like our son to be disciplined and studious, it just doesn't feel right." Miroku replied.

"Yasu?" Was Miroku's next attempt.

"Peace?" Sango nodded. "I like it but it sounds a bit feminine as it could also be a girl's name."

"Hmm..." Miroku stared at the bird flying above them in great concentration. "Tomohiro?"

"Our village may be in the west but that doesn't mean that our son's name has to have that meaning." Sango replied. Picking out a name for their son was proving to be quite difficult.

"Taro?" Was her next guess.

"It's like predestining him to grow up larger than us and maybe not necessarily in height." Was Miroku's response.

Both of them sighed.

"Aki?" The next suggestion came from Miroku.

"He's not being born in the autumn." Sango sent her husband a look and he just rolled his eyes, it didn't make the name any less nice.

"How about Daiki?" Sango asked after they checked that Sesshomaru and Yukari had gone along the same road at the crossing they were at before continuing with the name suggestions.

"He may feel pressured to attain the glory that his name suggests. And he's not a noble." Miroku pointed out.

Shippo rolled his eyes in exasperation. This conversation had been going on for hours now and Sango and Miroku were still no closer to finding a name for their child than they had been at the beginning of the day. He personally like the name Kazuki as it meant harmony and/or hope but that was just his opinion.

So far he had been happily staying out of sight as he explored the undergrowth between the various bushes and trees, straying a bit further from the path to see if he would maybe be able to find the village by doing so.

So far he hadn't had any luck. He wondered whether any of the other groups had been having any luck but as Kagome and Inuyasha were in one group on Kirara in the sky, he doubted that they were getting much done. The two of them were just a bit too distracted with one another. Kirara would probably tell him all about it once the evening reached them which wasn't that far off as it was in the middle of the afternoon already.

Then there were Yukari and Sesshomaru somewhere in front of them. He didn't know how well they worked together but they looked like two people who actually concentrated on what they were supposed to do. Sesshomaru was a bit too serious for his liking anyway, but that might mean that they would actually spot the village as those two were also in front of them by quite a bit.

And Kohaku and Jaken were also in the sky with Ah-Un. They were probably also concentrating on what they were supposed to do. Following a guy like Sesshomaru probably meant that you did what you had to do when you had to do it. And as they were in the sky, Shippo reckoned that they would probably find the village out of all of them.

As he continued to listen to the conversation of Miroku and Sango in the background he wondered rather absently why they hadn't even thought of any girl names yet. The baby might be a girl and he had no idea how his two friends had come to think that they were having a boy. They would probably be in shock if a girl was born as they hadn't even considered the possibility until now.

~.~.~.~.~

"So why did you actually pretend to not know my name when I came with the missive from your mother?" Yukari asked and Sesshomaru looked over at her, feeling slightly surprised. They hadn't spoken one word to each other ever since they had set off this morning in their pair and he wondered why she was asking him this now.

He didn't answer and after a couple of minutes she sent him an exasperated look. "Pretending to not have heard my question isn't going to cut it." She told him bluntly.

"Maybe because I didn't remember." He commented finally.

She snorted. "Yeah and I'm actually a guy and can fly." She looked over at him again. "Seriously, we lived together with your mother for three hundred years, saw each other every single day. And you think I'm going to buy that?" She sounded almost incredulous.

They continued to walk in silence.

He knew why he had pretended to have difficulty remembering her name, he also knew why had pretended to be so aloof. But those were reasons that she didn't have to know.

~.~.~.~.~

"There it is." Kohaku said and Jaken looked over to where the young man was pointing, feeling complete and utter relief as he spotted a village in front of the mountains that they could also see. It was almost evening and after being in the sky for the better part of the day, he could hardly wait to have solid ground underneath his feet.

And he was pretty sure that Kohaku felt the same with the amount of relief that was painted on his face.

"We should tell the others." Kohaku said next and Jaken merely nodded in assent. Ah-Un made a sound of happiness, flying around the whole day was beginning to tire him out.

With a speed that they did not believe that had been capable to achieve, they managed to fly around and quickly inform everyone. Kirara dropped Kagome and Inuyasha off near the village before flying back to get Sango, Shippo and Miroku. Ah-Un mirrored her actions, first dropping off Jaken and Kohaku before getting Sesshomaru and Yukari.

Everyone noticed that Kagome and Inuyasha appeared to be glowing. Kirara quickly began to fill in Shippo through a complex stream of sounds that reminded anyone of a cat.

"So now we just have to get through the village and into the cave?" Miroku looked around at the rest of them.

Nods met him from all around.

"The sun's nearly down, if we wait too long then the guards will be doing their rounds and on high alert, we should probably hurry." Sango stated, remembering how the village had functioned in her time and hoping that it was exactly the same right now.

"Okay." Inuyasha nodded and Kohaku took the head of the procession as they began to sneak in, successfully managing to avoid the guards. He, like Sango, still remembered the layout of the village and had the best chances of actually getting them through the village unscathed.

However, as always, things never do tend to run smoothly.

A little girl spotted them as she ran to get the doll that she had left in a more obscure corner of the village while playing and her scream of surprise quickly had guards and slayers come running in their direction.

"Shit." Inuyasha swore and they began to run towards the caves, Sango riding on Kirara as she really couldn't run in her state. They couldn't exactly fight the slayers because an injury to one of them might prove fatal in the long run and if one of them was Sango's and Kohaku's ancestor then they may cease to be.

Thus they found themselves nearly being pelted by arrows and various other weapons as they only just managed to avoid being skewered several times. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru growled in annoyance as they were unable to fight back which was a blow to their pride.

"The caves!" Kagome shouted out and they all swerved to the right and ran towards them, feeling relief at the fact that they looked exactly the same, namely open and accessible. The momentary shock of seeing a miko and a monk amongst the demons as well as other humans had given them an advantage as the slayers had frozen for a couple of seconds in surprise.

"Hole!" Came the next shout, this time from Shippo. There was a large hole in the ground. How come and why it was actually there they didn't question, all they needed to do was jump into it and hopefully return to their own time.

And with that thought they all jumped into the hole, one after the other, much to the shock of the following slayers who hadn't managed to catch up and therefore did not see them vanishing into the ground.

One person saw however and she was confused. She had met the three humans on the road and passed by the other two but something had made her suspicious so she had discreetly decided to follow them. Seeing them with demons had been a shock but something else frightened her much more.

It was the way that a pair of emerald green eyes met hers as the woman jumped into the hole, the way they reminded her of a little girl she had met not that long ago, the way they had recognised her own eyes and the confusion that remained long after the mysterious people had vanished.

She would die in that very cave not two months later and take the memory of those eyes and the little girl with her into the afterlife.


	16. Deeper Into The Caves

_ A/N: Thank you so much to **innocentanimefan** and **kakkn** for their reviews on chapter fifteen, as well as ** .X** for their review on chapter 3! :)_

_ RxExR!_

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><p><em>Timeless<em>

_Chapter 16 - Deeper Into The Caves_

As when they had travelled back into the past by five hundred years, when they returned to their own time they also managed to land in a beautiful pile, limbs tangled in what seemed like a work of art.

"I'm kind of getting tired of this." Yukari commented rather casually as she got up without a sign of discomfort and brushed herself off. Sesshomaru nodded in agreement as he also stood up easily and brushed some dust off of his clothes. Inuyasha glared at his brother and companion from the ground, they looked way too unbothered by time travel.

"It is kind of painful." Kohaku agreed as he helped Jaken up. The smaller demon didn't even complain but simply accepted the help Kohaku offered. Over the past few months, especially since Yukari had joined their group, he had come to tolerate and even like Kohaku, something that he wouldn't even have thought of a couple of years back.

"Sango, sweetheart, are you okay?" Miroku had already gotten up and was hovering around Sango rather nervously, checking that everything was okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She muttered. She seriously could not wait until the baby was born, the way that everyone was treating her like she was some sort of fragile flower was beginning to seriously annoy her.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha merely used her name as a question as he helped her up.

"I'm fine too." Kagome smiled sweetly at Inuyasha and he smiled back and for a couple of seconds the two of them were lost in each other's gazes.

Shippo snorted as he looked at his two love-struck friends. Finally they had admitted their feelings for one another. Kirara was telling him in several meow's of how it had all happened and he had to say that it was quite amusing to listen to, although Kirara had probably not liked them kissing so extensively while on her back as much.

"If you two are finished making fish eyes at one another, can we move on?" Sesshomaru asked, feeling slightly annoyed at the way his brother was wearing his emotions on his sleeve. Yukari snorted and then began to laugh at what he had said, the exasperated expression on his face being hilarious in her opinion.

Ah-Un made a sound that sounded like a chuckle while Kohaku and Jaken had a hard time to not laugh or chuckle. Sesshomaru wouldn't take them laughing as nicely as he took Yukari laughing. If he didn't know any better then Kohaku would say that the demon lord had a soft spot for the woman, but considering who Sesshomaru was, it was probably just the fact that he would die if he killed her that prevented him from getting too angry at her.

"Fish eyes?" Miroku snorted and the corners of Sango's mouth twitched upwards as her eyes danced in mirth.

Inuyasha shot his brother a glare while wearing a blush on his face and Kagome flushed a deep red.

"I think that Sesshomaru and the rest of us should take one path and you lot the other." Yukari said, still smiling, after her laughter had passed.

"We're going now?" Kagome looked slightly confused.

"Where?" Shippo looked up and down the two different corridors that led away from the main cave.

Miroku had to admire the way that Yukari had put that, she was obviously quite diplomatic, although he guessed that that had a lot to do with putting up with Lady Satomi for an extended period of time. Not only was she keeping Sesshomaru and Inuyasha apart, she was also giving them something to do straight away, meaning that the two brothers wouldn't get all tense and excited about jumping into action.

"Yeah, to go and catch Naraku." Sango said to Shippo and Kagome who both nodded in return, having reached the same conclusions. The quicker they caught Naraku, the better. And they knew from the traces of his smell in the air that he was in this cave.

"Okay, here you go." Yukari popped one clip on Sesshomaru's nose and another one on Jaken's. The smell of the herbs that repelled demons were still strong here although it wasn't as strong as it had been outside of the caves.

Sesshomaru sent her a pointed glare that she decidedly ignored. Jaken on the other hand looked relieved that he wouldn't have to contend with the awful smell anymore. Kohaku allowed himself a small smile.

"Left or right?" Inuyasha asked after he, Shippo and Kirara had employed the same technique to avoid the smell of the herbs.

"We'll take right." Sesshomaru said decidedly, growing tired of the indecision that hung in the air.

"Okay, then we'll take left." Kagome sent Inuyasha a look that he wisely heeded. He had been ready to argue with his brother about why he should take the left while Sesshomaru took the right but correctly decided that it really wasn't worth Kagome's ire and a possible 'Sit boy!', something that he hadn't heard in nearly two weeks.

"Take care." Sango said softly and Yukari nodded back in response, showing that they all returned the farewell. Kohaku quickly hugged his sister and smiled at the others before rushing after them, Sesshomaru having already begun to stride ahead into the pathway of the cave with determination, the others being not far behind.

"Well I guess that it's time to go then." Miroku said with a sigh, not really looking forward to a possible meeting with Naraku.

"Yeah." Kagome reciprocated the feeling that his voice had held in her sigh and looked at the dark tunnel that wound through the rock face to their left.

"Well then, come on." Inuyasha took Kagome's hand and they both went forward, blushes adorning their cheeks and amused smirks on the faces of their companions.

~.~.~.~.~

"Naraku." Naraku looked up as the voice of Kikyo floated towards his ears and struck a chord within his heart.

"Yes?" A rare but genuine smile adorned his face.

"It's time to leave. We have amassed enough power." Kikyo's eyes were soft.

"Let's go then." He said, the affection in his voice for once unmasked as no one else was around.

"Yes, let's." She replied and they left the cavern that they had been residing in, easily slipping past any sentries or guards, their hands occasionally brushing against the other's as they went through the narrow passageways between the many caves.

~.~.~.~.~

"They're gone." Midoriko looked around almost in wonder as she took in the cavern that no longer held the two people that they had been watching so closely for the past three months.

"I can't believe it." Hisashi said almost in a stupor before properly erupting. His swearing and cursing could probably be heard from the entrance to the caves but she honestly could not bring herself to care.

Would their true objectives finally be revealed?

She truly wondered what they were.

~.~.~.~.~

"Did you hear that?" Yukari looked up in suprise to find Sesshomaru having directed the question at her. After becoming accustomed to his normal agenda of ignoring her, she was almost shocked to see him speak with her so directly.

It felt good none the less though.

"Yeah, I did." She nodded in reply.

"So we're following that voice?" Even Kohaku had heard the long string of expletives that had echoed around the corridors and halls within the mountain.

"Yes." Sesshomaru said and they all followed him, Yukari smiling a mysterious smile of hers that Jaken, Kohaku and Ah-Un found surprisingly beautiful. They wondered if Sesshomaru had seen it too.

~.~.~.~.~

"Are you going to stand around swearing all day or are we actually going to go and find them?" Midoriko asked with irritation laced into her voice. Hisashi had gotten progressively more annoying over the past couple of weeks and she was about to reach her limit in terms of her tolerance of him and his attitude and temper.

"We're going to go." Hisashi practically snarled at her and she narrowed her eyes at his back.

He would be the first to go when she finally put her plans into action.

And being on the top of her 'hit-list' would not offer him any happiness.

~.~.~.~.~

"You also heard that, didn't you?" Kagome asked and the others nodded in reply.

"Yeah but its in the direction that my brother went in so we'll let him deal with it." Inuyasha said. Miroku absently wondered whether it was even possible to gain maturity merely by admitting to a person that you loved them in one form or another.

"So we continue straight ahead?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, straight ahead. It didn't sound like Naraku anyway." Miroku said and Shippo and Kirara bounded on further, intent on sensing any danger as soon as possible. It was practically pitch-black anyway.

~.~.~.~.~

"They found out that we've left." Kikyo said, shivering slightly from the cold in the tunnel in a manner that was rather reminiscent of of Aimi.

"They won't catch us." Naraku whispered, hugging her close. "And we'll be gone soon, our plan is fail-proof."

Kikyo merely nodded, enjoying the warmth that his embrace was offering, relishing the feelings of security and belonging.

Feelings she had believed she would never experience ever again.

~.~.~.~.~

"We're at some crossroads." Kagome commented as she looked at the way the path widened to accomodate for the many paths to meet and twist away from one another once more.

"Shh, someone's coming." Inuyasha whispered and they all grew quiet and readied themselves. It was time.

~.~.~.~.~

"Which way now?" Kohaku asked and Sesshomaru and the others looked around as three paths stretched away from the one that they were currently on.

"We can ask the ones coming towards us right now." Yukari stated idly.

Sesshomaru smirked. Finally they would get some action.

Jaken knew that if he wasn't so accustomed to his Lord, he would most certainly be shrinking back in fear from the expression on his Lord's face. It was positively frightening.

~.~.~.~.~

"I think I know where they went." Hisashi suddenly stated and Midoriko looked over at him with an expression that read _finally_.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" She asked, knowing that she would have to do something to release the stress that had built up within her soon otherwise she might actually explode.

"Nothing." Hisashi griped and they made their way into the tunnel network, Midoriko's hand twitching to take her sword and lop of Hisashi's head. The way that he was holding that arrogant head of his practially called for her to do it.

But doing it would probably make too much noise and pull attention towards her, something that she really didn't need when trying to run through the caves as silently as possible to avoid alerting Naraku and Kikyo that they were chasing after them.

~.~.~.~.~

"Kaede, what's wrong?" The old miko looked over as Ayumi's voice met her ears and she smiled slightly in her direction before turning back to view the magnificent sight that was the sun setting over the horizon.

"I don't know my dear, I just have a strange feeling in my gut." She replied as Ayumi joined her in watching the last light of the day flicker before letting the stars come out and shine brightly onto the earth below.

"Your gut feeling is probably right." Ayumi mentioned and Kaede allowed herself a small chuckle, internally agreeing with her. Over the past three months Ayumi had managed to nearly effortlessly slip into the routines of the village and it seemed as if she had settled quite well.

The girl had also opened up to her after a couple of weeks and told her about the problems plaguing her mind and Kaede found that the young woman had appeared relieved to finally get it off of her chest. She had walked around with a slight spring in her step afterwards, almost as if a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders merely by talking about her issues.

"My sister would have said that the setting sun represents the end of an old era and the beginning of a new one on a night as clear as this one, especially as the planets are all aligned perfectly and there wasn't even a cloud to be found during the day today." Ayumi broke the silence. A sad sigh followed that statement.

"My sister would probably have said something similar." Kaede said in response, thinking about her deceased sister and wondering why the strange feeling just wouldn't leave her alone.

"I wonder how Kagome and the others are doing." Ayumi whispered softly as she pulled her knees closer to her and made herself more comfortable in the grass.

"They will be fine." Kaede stated, completely sure that they would be.

After all, there was no way that that group could possibly lose. She closed her eyes and remembered her vision. Many things would happen but a great many things still lay ahead of them so they simply had to be alright.

But none the less she hoped that they would come home soon, if only to quench the worry of the young woman sitting next to her.


	17. Confrontation

_A/N: Thank you so much to **innocentanimefan** and **kakkn** for their reviews on the last chapter, it's amazing that you guys have stuck to this story and continued to read it despite my sporadic updates. :) On that note, thank you to everyone who has done the same._

_ There is light at the end of the tunnel, this story will be ending in a couple of chapters but hopefully I do it justice. A sequel is also in the works, but I shall not be posting that until I have written at least half of it because I seriously don't want to leave anyone hanging for as long as I have done while writing this. _

_ So, whether you have been here since the beginning or just started, enjoy the last couple of chapters! :)_

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><p><em>Timeless<em>

_Chapter 17 - Confrontation_

The sounds of footsteps coming towards them were becoming clearer and each of the two groups tensed in their hiding spaces as they waited for the approaching group to let itself be seen. They knew that they most probably had the element of surprise on their sides, which was always an advantage.

And it most certainly was so. Neither group running towards the two groups expected someone to jump out from in front of them as one was being chased and the others were the ones doing the chasing.

Inuyasha gave a subtle nod, one that was barely noticeable in the dark atmosphere of the caves. But everyone's senses were on high alert, any movement was visible to them, no matter how small it may be.

Swiftly and silently they jumped out from behind the small outcropping that they had been hiding behind. Inuyasha had Tetsusaiga drawn and Sango had Hiraikotsu drawn as well, much to the consternation of Miroku. He had his own staff drawn, as well as having several sutras at the ready while Shippo and Kirara had readied themselves for a fight as well. Kagome sent a short prayer upwards before clearing her mind and readying her bow and arrow; she would need all of her concentration right now.

The sight that met them was not one that they had expected.

Naraku and Kikyo nearly crashed into them, ducking Tetsusaiga and jumping backwards, just out of its reach.

"Naraku." Inuyasha ground out, glaring at the man that had caused him so much pain and so many troubles four years ago.

"Inuyasha." Naraku nodded and nobody missed the way that his eyes briefly scanned the area, looking for a way to get past them.

The two groups faced each other, neither moving as their breathing was the only sound.

"I am sorry." One could have expected many things, but an apology from the man that had made their lives a literal hell two years ago wasn't at the top of that list.

"What?" Inuyasha finally managed to get out. The apology had astounded him as much as everyone else, maybe even more.

"For what I did two years ago. I cannot say that I was out of my mind as I was not. I was perfectly aware of what I was doing and yet I believed it to be right. But being reborn, being given a second shot at life, it is more than I could have ever expected. I never want to travel down that road again, as it only led me towards destruction the last time." Naraku looked genuinly regretful and Kagome found it hard to doubt him. There was something within her telling her that he was being truthful.

And the fact that he was hiding Kikyo so protectively also made her more inclined to believe him. After all, which kind of black-hearted man would hide another person behind their back in order to protect them?

None that she knew of, was the correct answer.

"How can we know that you aren't lying?" Inuyasha hissed, his own doubt at the fact that he wasn't having any actual doubts about Naraku's sincerity of all things flaring. There was more to this situation than met the eye.

"You can't." Naraku shrugged. "There is probably nothing that I can say or do to alleviate those doubts and you are completely justified in that."

"Did he have some sort of personality transplant?" Sango hissed quietly at Miroku,

"I'm starting to believe so." Miroku replied just as quietly, eyeing the demon in front of him. Like Inuyasha, he couldn't help but believe that there was more to this situation that they were being led to believe.

"And I am also sorry about what I am about to do." Naraku said and immediately everyone's guard went up.

What they weren't prepared for though was the intense blast of the magic spell that hit them. Surprisingly though, Kikyo, who still hadn't said one word, and Naraku just ran past them, they didn't even try to harm them.

"Did they seriously just blast us with a spell in order to get past us?" Kagome asked, still being stuck to the floor due to the spell.

"It appears so." Miroku replied.

All Inuyasha did was groan in frustration.

Now they would have to wait for the spell to wear off before they could follow Naraku and Kikyo.

Great.

~.~.~.~.~

"We should split up. Naraku and Kikyo could have gone either way." Midoriko pointed out to Hisashi who growled at her in annoyance. He could damn well see that himself, he didn't need her to point out the obvious to him.

"Okay, then I'll go left and you go right." He said and she nodded, not willing to fight about his domineering attitude right now.

"Okay." And she ran down the right path.

It was the last time that she saw him alive.

~.~.~.~.~

"Looks like my brother is busy again." Sesshomaru said almost conversationally as they left their spot behind the cave wall in order to continue searching for Naraku. They had hidden there, waiting for the footsteps that they had heard to get closer and to ambush said person.

Nobody had turned up however.

Instead, the footsteps had veered off the path that would have led towards them and had travelled into some other direction.

So they had waited for a couple minutes to see if that person would return but it seemed that they wouldn't. And so they had left their spot and were making their way towards the sounds.

And Sesshomaru was probably right - only Inuyasha's group would make that much noise. Or a group of lowly and inexperienced demons. But somehow, seeing as this place was quite well organised, Yukari doubted that.

Their footsteps were silent, even Kohaku's - he had spent enough time learning how to be silent from Sesshomaru - when they heard another pair of footsteps nearing them. They were quiet, so quiet that they nearly missed them. And they would have, had that person not been running.

Sesshomaru sent a look to the rest of them and they nodded, understanding what it was that he wanted them to do. Without making a sound, Jango and Kohaku crept around the corner and stayed there in order to make sure that no one came from behind. Ah-Un stood at the other corner, blocking the way there. And Yukari made herself scarce by hiding in a crevice in the wall, in case Sesshomaru wanted her to attack the person that was coming towards them. Which, if he deemed the demon or person too far below his strength class, then she probably would have to do so.

Sesshomaru himself lent against the wall casually, watching the tunnel in front of him carefully, his posture exuding confidence but his eyes remaining ever alert.

He did not want to take any chances.

"_Mio_-" The voice was that of a woman's and Sesshomaru took in her appearance carefully. Long dark hair, she held herself regally, her eyes and startled voice being the only thing that indicated her surprise.

Her arm went to her back and she pulled forth an arrow, notching it into her bow.

A miko then.

"Who are you?" Her voice was fierce and she was glaring at him disdainfully. "A demon?"

"Indeed, I am." Sesshomaru graced her with a reply, noting the hatred that immediately flared in her eyes.

"I recognise you. You're Sesshomaru, the Great Demon Lord of the West." The woman's eyes narrowed even furhter.

Kohaku had his hand over Jaken's mouth quicker than he could blink. There was absolutely no sense in giving their position away only because Jaken believed that everyone should be addressing his master as 'Lord' Sesshomaru.

Yukari on the other hand, furowed her brows. She recognised that voice.

"And what of it?" Sesshomaru was still sizing her up, deciding whether she was worth his time or not. Something told him that there was more to this woman than she let on. Her initial reaction of him had been too quick to be the reaction of a normal person. This woman wasn't just your ordinary miko.

"It just means that I'm going to kill you." She stated calmly, her voice betraying her anger to him. It was just a subtle undercurrent but he was used to reading between the lines, to understand the hidden meanings within everything, he had to, as the Great Demon Lord.

Sesshomaru sent her a scathing look and the woman flinched slightly as Yukari allowed herself a small smirk. Sesshomaru could be absolutely terrifying, there was no doubt about that.

But what annoyed her still was the wave of nostalgia that spread through her as she looked at the woman. There was something about the way that she was holding herself, the way that she was holding that arrow, poised to shoot Sesshomaru without a second thought.

The bow and arrow...suddenly it clicked into place.

"They didn't hate you and yet you hate them." Yukari stepped forth from her crevice in the wall, ignoring Sesshomaru's warning glare, instead concentrating completely on the woman.

"Who are you?" The woman's guard was up, she was still pointing the arrow at Sesshomaru, but her eyes were trained on Yukari. Panic, fear and anger filled her eyes.

"You're the miko from that time." Yukari stated, almost trance-like, as she took another step forward. Her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and Jaken squeaked as the horrifying image of her white eyes met them. The woman flinched at the sound and her head shot up, seeing them clearly.

Sesshomaru was looking surprisingly worried.

"They killed your beloved, they took his life. You will never forgive them. You hate them, you always have." Yukari continued, oblivious to the world around her. Sesshomaru knew what this was, this was one of her rare spells of foresight or hindsight. She could look into the past or future but whenever she did, and it was mostly involuntary on her part, something else always triggered it, she was completely defenseless, she lost all sense of her surroundings. Which was possibly the worst thing that could have happened in this case.

"What do you know?" The woman between them spat. "You've never lost a loved one to a demon, you've never seen their inards splayed out before you. You've never had to just sit there beside them as they die because you were too weak to protect them. You don't know anything!" Her voice had risen towards the end, she was completely infuriated.

"Your hate will destroy you. It has consumed you and your sister's ancestor will be the cause of your death one day. You will not fall at the hands of a demon, but at the hands of one who sympathises with them. As the pale moon rises and covers the sea, the heart of a queen, encased in ice, will shatter and break. Three steps forth and three steps back, her heart's desire will be fulfilled." Yukari's voice was fading, Sesshomaru could see that the trance was coming to an end.

"You! You're that girl from five hundred years ago!" The woman looked at her in shock, her anger quickly beginning to grow even more. "You stopped me once, you will not stop me again!" And she swung her bow around and let loose the arrow. Sesshomaru rushed forward in an attempt to stop her and Kohaku, Jaken and Ah-Un also left their places.

The woman ran back down the way she came.

"Yukari?" Kohaku kneeled down next to her as she awoke from her daze, the arrow piercing her chest. "Yukari, are you alright? Talk to me, tell me if you can hear me!" Kohaku was holding her gently in his arms, refusing to let her slip from the trance into oblivion. Jaken was pacing up and down, knowing that if she died, then Sesshomaru would as well.

Sesshomaru was staring down at her, his eyes unseeing.

"Her name is Midoriko." Yukari coughed softly, her voice breaking. "She's the priestess who's heart became the Shikon no Tama."

"You saw this?" Kohaku asked and Yukari nodded softly.

"Go after her Sesshomaru, find Naraku. If the two of them collaborate then you might all lose. Her spiritual powers are overwhelming and she's completely fueled by her hatred of demons." Yukari swallowed heavily. "The bond's breaking, the arrow pierced my heart. Her aim is really good." She chuckled slightly and Kohaku admired her strength for still being able to smile and find some humour in this situation. "You're free." She smiled gently and her voice broke at the trembling fear that lay underneath her false bravado.

She was afraid of the death that was approaching her.

"I-" For once, the mighty demon lord appeared to be lost for words.

"Go." She said softly. A look passed between them, a look that even years later Kohaku would remember. It's intensity was astounding, the message passed between them was something that was for them alone.

"Take her to the surface, treat her." Sesshomaru's voice was harsh and Kohaku flinched slightly. He and Jaken also shared a look, but a look of a very different kind. It was a rare look of understanding, of knowing exactly how Sesshomaru's mind worked and what he meant, despite perhaps not quite knowing it himself.

"Come on Ah-Un, let's go." Kohaku picked Yukari up carefully. Her breathing was laboured, her eyes closed as the life began to seep out of her.

Kohaku knew that Sesshomaru wouldn't only possibly physically die, should Yukari leave the world of the living.

~.~.~.~.~

"Inuyasha, can you move yet?" Miroku asked as he lay, flat on his back, counting the number of cracks in the ceiling once again.

"No. I can wiggle my hand though." Inuyasha sighed, annoyance and anger having taken up residence in his whole body.

"Damn Kikyo for being so adept with spells." Sango muttered, quite angry herself.

"I'll kill her, I really will." Kagome's thoughts were dark and the others looked over at her. Yeah, none of them were taking this particularly well. And Kagome wasn't taking this well _at all_. After all, she had been essentially one-upped by the woman that always one-upped her.

"Shippo?" Miroku asked, having reached crack number twenty-five.

"Sorry Miroku." Shippo apologised. He had been trying out a variety of different kitsune spells in the hope that one might free them. No such luck so far.

"Kirara?" Sango asked.

A couple of disgruntled meows gave her her answer.

They all sighed in unison. Really, only they would manage to get themselves stuck like this. They all wondered what divine force they had upset at some point.

"I solemnly swear that I will never stare at another woman for as long as I live." Miroku stated, his eyes closed as if in prayer.

"I swear that I will no longer entertain thoughts of murdering my husband in his sleep." Sango said in a similar fashion.

"I will not be jealous of someone who I don't need to be jealous of ever again." Kagome said, taking a deep and cleansing breath.

"Oh and I also promise to eat celery from now on."

Kirara felt a sweat drop run down her head. What kind of things were they apologising for?

"Meow." _I swear that I will never follow another group of idiots that get me into this kind of situation again._ Her 'meow' was very heartfelt.

Shippo sent her a look which she ignored.

"I promise to never play pranks on my master and try to humiliate him should he annoy me, which is practically daily again. Well, maybe one or two. He is rather annoying." Shippo said, deciding to follow the general trend of things.

A couple of minutes of silence followed.

"Oh come on!" Inuyasha finally yelled, his already limited patience having reached its breaking point.

"Let us go!" Kagome wailed.

"This isn't fair!" Sango let go of her frustrations as well.

"Meow." _Life isn't fair._ Kirara responded, but of course Sango didn't understand her.

"You do know that yelling isn't going to help us?" Miroku asked carefully, fully aware that they were all quite angry by now.

"We know." Inuyasha growled.

"But they're getting away." Sango continued.

"And we have to get them!" Kagome finished.

Miroku sighed. Really, they would have to practice patience once they got out of here.

"Now what do we have here?" A sinister voice asked and they all looked up, or at least, as far as they could lift their heads, in order to see a humanoid demon standing there, peering down at them with malice in his eyes. "If it isn't the famous Inuyasha and his band of merry followers."

Miroku felt sick to the stomach. This could not be happening, not when they were all paralysed by being stuck on the floor.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha ground out, his eyes never leaving the demon as he casually strolled around Inuyasha.

"Oh nothing really. Perhaps your deaths, perhaps information on which way Naraku and Kikyo went, perhaps that beautiful miko over there so that she can pay for what the other two have done." The man's grin was diabolical and Inuyasha felt panic overtake him.

He walked towards Kagome.

"You know, you really do look awfully like that Kikyo, wouldn't you agree?" The man ran his hand up and down Kagome's cheek and she felt a whimper escape her lips. This was bad. This was really bad.

"I wonder what you would feel like, writhing underneath me as I exact my revenge, hm?" The man's hands strayed further south and the others felt bile rise in their throats. There had to be something that they could do, something that would stop this from happening. Something-

Hisashi barely heard the whistling sound and he stared in horror down at his body as the upper half fell backwards, leaving his legs lying there to fall forward on Kagome who screamed once they touched her body.

Blood splattered all over the place and he stared up to see who had severed his body in half.

"Why?" He rasped out as a magnificent figure stepped over him.

"You were in my way." Sesshomaru stared down at the demon, a hard expression on his face, before continuing to walk down the corridor.

Life left him and his eyes grew blank and unseeing. Miroku, Inuyasha, Sango, Shippo and Kirara stared in horror at the two parts of the demon, who's insides still appeared to be moving. Sesshomaru was still walking away from them, not looking back once.

Kagome felt tears prick the back of her eyes as the blood of the man continued to flow over her. Whimpers escaped her and she could feel that she was losing control of her emotions and rational thinking.

Finally the man's body stopped twitching and they could begin to feel the spell lifting. Jaken quickly ran past them in order to catch up with Sesshomaru.

"Jaken!" Miroku called out, lifting himself up from the ground. Jaken turned to look back at him. "What happened?"

If anything, then he would have described Jaken's look as haunted. He then noticed that Yukari, Kohaku and Ah-Un weren't with them anymore. Which was strange as Yukari had never been more than a few metres away from Sesshomaru.

"They angered him." Jaken merely said before running off after Sesshomaru again. He didn't have any time to linger and explain to Inuyasha and his group why Sesshomaru was losing control. He had to make sure that Sesshomaru survived.

"We have to go after them." Sango stated, looking thoroughly rattled.

Miroku nodded.

"Kagome, are you okay?" Inuyasha was by her side, helping her up after discarding the bottom half of the man's body.

"I will be." Kagome stated, her knees shaking as she got back up.

"Meow." Kirara transformed into her larger demonic form and Inuyasha carried Kagome over to her, gently depositing Kagome on Kirara's back. Kagome had started to shake and she stared down at her hands, which were covered in blood, as the rest of her body was.

"It won't stop." She said and Inuyasha hugged her, disregarding the blood that was coating her.

"It will." He simply stated, holding her tight. "I have to let go now but I'll be right in front of Kirara, okay?" He stared at her and Sango and Miroku looked down over at them in worry.

"Let's go." Inuyasha marched on ahead, his expression dark, while they all followed behind him.

This time, things had gone just a bit too far.


	18. The Vanishing Heart

_A/N: Thank you to **innocentanimefan** to their review on Chapter 17! :)_

_RxExR!_

* * *

><p><em>Timeless<em>

_Chapter 18 - The Vanishing Heart_

"Yukari? Yukari!" Kohaku shook Yukari gently as she lay on a patch of grass in the village.

"Hm?" Her voice was nearly gone and she wasn't even opening her eyes anymore.

"Stay with me. Do you understand? Please stay with me." Kohaku begged as he extracted the arrow from her chest. "What should I do?" He murmured to himself as he held a ripped piece of his shirt to her wound to stop the blood from gushing forth.

It was a hopeless situation. She was dying and Kohaku knew it. God, even she knew it. After all, she had told Sesshomaru to 'go', knowing full well that it meant that whatever bond they had once had was breaking.

In that moment Sesshomaru had understood that too, he had known in his bones that she was leaving this plane of existence.

And Kohaku swore that he had seen some part of the demon lord break in the process.

"Kohaku?" Yukari's voice was barely above a whisper, her voice as frail as she looked.

"Yes?" He was breathless, praying internally that she would remain alive, that she would pull through.

But she had said that her heart was pierced.

"Tell me a story." She begged, needing to hear something other than her laboured breathing and her life leaving her. She sounded so afraid, like a small child terrified of the dark.

"Well, you know that me and Sango used to live in this village, right? Well, there was this one time..." And he began with the happy tales of his childhood. Tales that were of demon slaying and family dinners, of finding Kirara and begging their parents to let her stay.

Tears were gathering in the corners of his eyes as he felt her growing weaker and weaker in his arms.

He prayed that she would survive.

She had to.

~.~.~.~.~

"I wonder why your brother was so angry." Miroku mused as they continued to walk down the long corridor leading god-knows-where. Well, more like rushing down the corridor. Inuyasha was absolutely furious at the moment, understandably so, and was itching to cut or beat up something, preferably Naraku. Or his brother. But considering the mood that his brother appeared to be in, Inuyasha knew that it wouldn't be advisable to do anything with Sesshomaru right now.

He wondered what had gotten underneath his brother's skin.

"I don't know." He muttered in response, realising that Miroku's question hadn't been entirely rhetorical.

"Well, whoever it was that crossed him, I sure am glad that I'm not them." Sango said, shivering slightly as she remembered the murderous look in Sesshomaru's eyes as he had cut down that man and then stalked off. Not too long ago it could have been her that was cut down by him on a whim.

She would always regret what she had done to Rin and had been willing to do. She would never forgive herself for being so careless with the little girl's life and she knew that, despite Sesshomaru ignoring it for now, he had not forgotten.

And he had most certainly not forgiven her for it. It would take a long time for that to happen but she was willing to try because she that what she had done had been wrong, even if it took eternity to get him to see how sorry she was.

Sango sighed. Before, that had merely been a saying, but now it looked as if they actually might have eternity for it to do that. Which was a completely different problem should they make it out of here alive.

Being alive for eternity, it was not the cheeriest of all thoughts.

~.~.~.~.~

Midoriko was running, her breathing heavy as she tore down the corridor after what she knew to be Kikyo and Naraku. She refused to let her thoughts dwell on the encounter that she had just had, she refused to acknowledge how much that woman's words were affecting her.

_"Your hate will destroy you."_ The woman's words echoed in her mind. How ironic, her sister had said that too, right before her death.

"_It has consumed you and your sister's ancestor will be the cause of your death one day."_ Her sister hadn't had any children, so that wasn't possible.

_"You will not fall at the hands of a demon, but at the hands of one who sympathises with them."_ Too many people sympathised with demons in this era, it seemed. It was a ridiculous notion, that she would ever lose and fall again.

_"As the pale moon rises and covers the sea, the heart of a queen, encased in ice, will shatter and break."_ That line sent a shiver down her back, it had frightened her to the very core of her being. This wasn't the first time that she had heard these words.

_Her brown eyes were losing their light quickly as Midoriko knelt next to her sister, attempting to save her with every spell that she knew._

_"Your hatred of them caused this." Her sister coughed and blood trickled down the side of her mouth._

_"No." Midoriko shook her head. "They came, like they always do. They are mindless and brutal creatures who kill just for the fun of it." Her voice was venomous, even as she was attempting to be gentle with her sister._

_"No." Her sister's denial made her head snap up in surprise. Her sister had never disagreed with her. "It's your hatred and killing of them that led them here to seek revenge. You're to blame for my death and the death of the other villagers. If you weren't so bent on revenge for Aki then this would have never happened." Her sister's eyes were angry, even as the life was fading out of them._

_"It's going to be the cause of your death one day Midoriko. You hate them too much, it has consumed you completely." Her sister's eyes were sad now._

_"No." Midoriko disagreed. "No demon will ever take my life."_

_Her sister chuckled. "Oh, but the irony is that it's probably not a demon that will ultimately take your life but one who sympathises and cares for them."_

_"Who would ever be stupid enough to sympathise with those monsters?" Midoriko spat._

_Her sister's eyes were tragically sad._

_"As the pale moon rises and covers the sea, the heart of a queen, encased in ice, will shatter and break." Her sister recited slowly, none of Midoriko's spells taking effect. The wounds were too deep, she couldn't heal them in time._

_"What?" Midoriko was confused but her sister's eyes were distant._

_"Three steps forth and three steps back, her heart's desire will be fulfilled." Her sister finished before looking back at Midoriko. "Remember those words sister. You will die at the hands of one who sympathises with them and there is no future where this doesn't happen. Just remember that you brought this upon yourself."_

_"Hana-" Midoriko tried in a last ditch effort to reach her sister but Hana, with the little energy that she had left recoiled from her touch._

_"Goodbye Midoriko." Hana's eyes closed and her life finally left her. Her breathing stopped and Midoriko held her sister's body in shock as it began to grow colder and colder._

_And then the crying began._

Her sister's words had never left her, had haunted her, even now. But that woman, how could she still be alive? She should have died a good five hundred years ago. And how had she known Hana's words? Why had she repeated them?

But she had killed her, so it didn't matter anymore. She had stopped her from getting in her way again.

She remembered how the little girl had saved her life.

She ignored the pangs of guilt and continued to run as if her life depended on it.

~.~.~.~.~

"Stop!" Kikyo and Naraku turned around, afraid that someone had already caught up to them. It couldn't be Inuyasha and his group - that spell glueing them to the floor should just about have begun to wear off.

"Midoriko." Naraku said, a small sneer on his face as he shielded Kikyo with his body. She knew what to do, there wasn't any question about it. They didn't have much time anyway before Inuyasha and the others caught up as well.

And so she discreetly began to prepare for what she and Naraku had been planning for over a month now.

"What are you doing?" Midoriko asked, her bow and arrow raised as she slowly edged her way around the room, her back always to the wall.

"We want a life for ourselves." Naraku decided to be as honest as he could without giving too much away. He knew that Midoriko would be able to read through any lie anyway.

Midoriko scoffed. "You are a demon, you will never deserve a normal life." Her voice was bitter.

"Maybe I will never deserve it but I desire to have one anyway." Naraku continued. "I have spent most of my life in pain. Even after being resurrected after finally moving on into the afterlife, I still returned to this form. I have no desire for the past to repeat itself."

He stood strong, unblinking as she glared at him and lifted her bow up even further. What confused her was that he was not even attempting to take on a stance to defend himself.

"Please Midoriko, just let us go." Kikyo's voice came out from behind Naraku and Midoriko narrowed her eyes at her.

"You want to leave with him?" Her face clearly showed her disgust.

"I love him." Kikyo made her declaration just as Inuyasha and his team arrived in the cave with a crash.

"Wasn't Sesshomaru in front of us?" Miroku asked as silence stretched out through the cave.

"He was." Inuyasha nodded.

"I wonder where he went?" Sango asked, looking around the cave, taking in the tense situation.

"Kikyo. Naraku." Kagome looked at both of them directly, having heard the 'I love him' from Kikyo quite clearly.

"Not really important right now." Shippo decided to point out, looking at the glaring Midoriko from beween Kagome's legs.

"You love him?" Midoriko wasn't the only one looking at Kikyo in disbelief.

"And I love her." Naraku added.

Inuyasha and Kagome sounded like they were choking on something.

"We're tired of this life, we want to leave." Kikyo said again, hoping against hope that her words might strike a chord in Midoriko.

They didn't.

"You are demons, reincarnations of your former selves." Midoriko's expression never changed. "You are evil."

"Why do you hate demons so much?" Inuyasha finally asked, daring to voice what had been circling around in everybody's minds.

"What's it to you, hanyou?" Midoriko's voice wasn't any kinder.

"She lost her betrothed to a demon attack." Sesshomaru's hard voice echoed throughout the cave and Midoriko spun around to face him. Jaken came rushing into the cavern behind him.

"How do you know that?" Kagome wondered how Sesshomaru could have found out about this in the short time that their groups had been apart.

"Lady Yukari had a vision." Jaken stated solemnly and Inuyasha noticed the tight grip that Sesshomaru had on Bakusaiga. What had happened?

Shippo noticed that Yukari had been upgraded to 'Lady' Yukari in Jaken's vocabulary.

"Again, what's it to you?" Midoriko hissed, wondering what was taking Hisashi so long. He should have been here long ago.

"Nothing. Merely stating a fact." Sesshomaru's voice was cold as he drew Bakusaiga. Blood was dripping off the end of it. The others scooted backwards by reflex. One did not want to get into contact with Sesshomaru's Bakusaiga. Ever.

Kikyo gave Naraku's sleeve a small tug and he knew what that meant. It was time for them to go.

"Goodbye everyone and the best of luck to you all." Naraku smiled a genuine smile, one that looked so foreign on his face.

"No." Midoriko rushed forward, she had to stop them otherwise her plans would crumble to ashes. She needed them to complete her dream.

"Inuyasha, Kagome." Both looked up at Kikyo in surprise as she called out their names. "I am truly sorry for the pain I caused you both. Good luck." And both she and Naraku turned around and walked through the wall.

They walked through the wall.

Miroku blinked.

Yup, they were still walking through the wall.

What the hell was going on?

And they were gone.

Midoriko fell onto the floor in front of the wall, banging her hand at the unmoving rock.

"You bastards, you-" And she began to swear, or what they assumed to be swearing, in a language so ancient that none of them understood it any more.

Sesshomaru did though. He prevented himself from stumbling as a brief flash of pain in his chest took his breath away.

Yukari.

She was dying, he could feel it in his very soul. In that brief moment when their eyes had met when she had told him to 'go', she had sent him the vision she had seen via some sort of telepathy. She had never been one to share her visions whenever they occurred so he knew how serious the situation was when she did.

She didn't believe that she would make it.

He clenched his teeth.

_"The arrow is poisonous, I won't make it."_ He could still hear her goodbye in his head. Ever since he had lost Rin, he knew what it felt like when someone close to you left this world for the next. But, as with Rin, he wasn't willing to let her just decide that she wasn't going to make it. It wasn't her choice to make.

"What poison do you put on your arrows?" Bakusaiga was right next to Midoriko's throat. She froze as she realised that in her anger she had let her guard and concentration drop.

"What's it to you?" She seemed to be saying that an awful lot lately.

"What poison?" Sesshomaru's already quite worn patience was breaking. He did not have time for this woman's antics. Yukari intended to be the only one to die today, she had told him so during the brief moment when she had sent him that vision, knowing that he would need its information in the future.

She was intending to use her temporal powers to send herself to another time period, thereby eliminating the chance that Sesshomaru would die as well due to their bond.

Neither of them knew whether it would work but she was willing to take that risk, to take the chance of not letting her body heal, of not spending her final moments with those that she cared for, for his sake.

"I won't tell you." Midoriko's eyes were hard but her confidence wavered as Sesshomaru brought Bakusaiga impossibly closer to her neck. The look in his eyes frightened her. They were cold and uncaring at the first glance, but underneath, due to years of practice, she could see his panic, his worry for the one that she had poisoned.

He wanted to save her.

That simple realisation took her breath away. She was seeing first hand how a demon cared for another and it frightened her. It spoke against everything that she believed in, that demons were cruel and brutal and uncaring.

_"Your hatred of them will kill you."_ Two voices echoed in her head and Midoriko swallowed quietly.

This was bad. She was going to die because there was not a chance in hell that she was going to give a demon what he wanted.

At least her sister's and that woman's predictions had been wrong. She would die at the hands of a demon, just as she had always thought she would. She closed her eyes, ready to accept the death that she knew would come.

Suddenly a bright glow filled the cavern, blinding everyone inside of it. The pink hue was pulsing, just like a living organism.

Kagome felt something warm around her neck and realised that it was the Shikon no Tama jewel from her own time, the one that she had brought back to the Feudal Era. It was the thing that was emitting the light and pulsing like crazy.

"What the-" She felt the jewel beginning to burn her neck and she quickly removed the chain holding it, never looking down as she feared that the bright light would blind her permanently.

The light dimmed and everyone looked at the chain that Kagome was holding out in front of her, as if it was something infected.

Sesshomaru's eyebrows shot up as he realised what it was and Jaken gasped. Midoriko on the other hand merely looked confused. When Miroku reflected on the whole scene later, he decided that her reaction made sense as she had never actually seen the Shikon no Tama that had once been her heart as she was technically already 'dead' once she had ejected it from her body.

The jewel flew straight from Kagome's hands, slipping through her fingers as she attempted to hold onto the chain that had bound it around her neck. It burned her fingers and she yelped as it finally slipped away from her.

It slammed right into Midoriko, fusing with her body as she let loose a shout of pain. Bakusaiga scraped her neck and she flinched backwards, right into the wall that Naraku and Kikyo had vanished into.

It was like a big black hole, Kagome thought as they all watched in some sort of fascinated horror as Midoriko fell backwards through it, being swallowed by the darkness.

Sesshomaru moved forward in an attempt to stop her from escaping but she was gone. Again there was nothing but a hard wall.

Incomprehension had been the last thing on her face before she had vanished and it coloured all of their faces now.

Sesshomaru swore quietly, so quietly that no one but Jaken heard him.

Midoriko was gone.


	19. The Return to the Village

_A/N: Thank you to **innocentanimefan** to their review on the last chapter! :) What happens to Yukari will be resolved in this chapter-ish._

_ After this chapter there is only one chapter left and then we're finished with Timeless...I can't believe that this is happening, but thank you all for your support along the way. :)_

_RxExR!_

* * *

><p><em>Timeless<em>

_Chapter 19 - The Return to the Village_

They emerged from the caves in silence, none of them daring to say a word. Inuyasha and Sessomaru were both fuming, although for two very different reasons, and it seemed that this time Inuyasha would not be voicing that anger. Naraku had escaped him, _again_, and there was nothing that he could do about it. They didn't know where he had gone, and as Sango had pointed out quite helpfully, they didn't know into what time he had gone either. He could have gone into the past or he could have gone into the future. Or perhaps neither.

Fact was though that they didn't know what exactly had happened, only that the ones that they had been chasing after for the past months were gone.

It was infuriating to say the least.

Sesshomaru on the other hand was fighting a panic that he appeared to be unable to control. He hadn't been able to get the name of the poison from Midoriko so therefore he did not know what would heal Yukari.

He was beginning to face the prospect that maybe she actually wouldn't make it, that she wouldn't pull through in the end like she always did.

She had always been a constant in his life, ever since he was small. He didn't want to think about her not being there, it would be incomprehensible for her to not be around anymore.

She wouldn't die.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Kohaku's voice broke him out of his reverie and he realised that they had arrived at where he and Yukari, along with Ah-Un, were staying. He stood there, impassive as ever as he looked down at Yukari, who's breathing had grown even shallower since they had parted ways.

"Sesshomaru?" Her voice was practically non-existent and he was forced to sit down next to her in order to hear her.

He would not kneel, he would never do that.

"Remember that time?" She asked and he knew what she was talking about. There could only be one thing that she was talking about.

"Please keep it." She asked softly.

"I will." He nodded solemnly.

She smiled weakly and Kohaku felt a deep sadness overcome him as he watched the two of them.

Was there nothing that he could do?

~.~.~.~.~

"What happened?" Inuyasha hissed at Jaken who kept looking over to where Yukari lay on the ground.

"Lady Yukari's heart got pierced by one of the miko's arrows. Apparently it's poisoned." Jaken explained before rushing over to his group, settling next to Kohaku, deciding to keep a silent vigil over her along with him.

"Oh my god." Sango's hand flew to her mouth and she looked over at Sesshomaru with pity. Now it made sense why he wanted to know what poison Midoriko had used to put on her arrows. He had wanted to know so that Yukari might have a chance at surviving. But without knowing the poison, the chances of that had decreased drastically.

Inuyasha looked over at his brother in worry. From what he remembered, Sesshomaru didn't deal too well with losing people close to him. Now, he didn't know how close Sesshomaru and Yukari had been but from what he had seen, they had been pretty close. Rin had only slipped up once about how Sesshomaru reacted once people close to him died and from what he could tell, it wouldn't be pretty.

Silence filled the area around them. The only sounds that could be heard were the wind rustling a couple of the leaves in the trees.

It should have been a good day, the weather was brilliant. Naraku was gone.

And yet...

Sesshomaru was pretty sure that it was mocking him.

The quiet continued and Sesshomaru appreciated Inuyasha's silence, as well as the silence from the group that always travelled with his brother. He was pretty sure that he would have beheaded them should they have been noisy and disruptive.

The whizzing in the air was the first thing that alerted him to something approaching. The second was the fact that he _knew_ that something was about to hit them. It was a gut feeling and he had learned early on that trusting that instinct would bring about the best results for him.

Third was the loud screech of "Sesshomaru!" that completely destroyed the silence.

"Mother." He hissed, not caring at that moment in time that he was being disrespectful towards her. Yukari was dying and he was in no mood to put up with her theatrics right now.

Inuyasha, who had a very similar gut feeling, had had the presence of mind to hide behind Miroku so that Satomi wouldn't immediately be able to spot him. He disliked being battered by her as much as Sesshomaru did and like his brother, wasn't really in the mood to put up with her.

"Something terrible has happened." Lady Satomi stepped forth from the bubble that had been transporting her and looked at her son completely seriously, as if she hadn't just created a crater in the middle of the Slayer's Village.

Well, at least she hadn't hit any of them. The relief at that was tangible in the air.

"Yeah, your travelling abilities." Came the annoyed mutter of Rina as she stepped out of the rubble. When Lady Satomi had pretty much ambushed her that morning and spirited them away in her bubble, she had feared for her life. The former Lady of the Western Lands had never steered the bubble that eratic before and she had prayed to every deity that she knew of that she would make it out alive.

Thank god that she had. Otherwise, Lady Satomi would be the one fearing for her life right now as her vengeful spirit haunted her.

"As you can see Mother, we are a little busy right now." Sesshomaru pretty much snapped at his mother and everyone raised their eyebrows at his behaviour. Sesshomaru was decorum and control in person, this reaction was highly unusual for him.

It was then that Rina spotted Yukari.

"Yukari!" She dashed forward, ignoring all protocol as she dropped down beside her friend, panic overtaking her. "What happened?" She stared imploringly at Sesshomaru and then the others, willing them to tell her that her friend would be alright.

"Her heart got pierced by a poisoned arrow and we don't know what poison was used." Kohaku explained, Sesshomaru picking that moment to reign in his unusual emotions and be controlled and calm once more.

"That is why I am here." Lady Satomi pronounced and the others all turned their attention back to her. "I had a sort of premonition, a gut feeling that something bad would happen a couple of days ago and I had a feeling it would be about you. That is why I went into your father's old library, terribly dirty by the way, we need to tell the servants to clean it up properly, and looked into the whole 'linked by amulet' thing."

And that explained why the demon lady had been surprisingly absent from court the last couple of days, Rina thought to herself.

"And then this morning, a messenger came to me, telling me of some unusual movements of demons within this region. He gave me the report to give to you, as you were absent as you always are, and I looked at it." Lady Satomi continued.

"Mother, those reports are for my eyes alone." Sesshomaru told his mother, the slight crease on his forhead indicating his displeasure at her going through his stuff. Again.

"And I noticed that there were so many demons migrating here, some even daiyoukai, and I couldn't just sit there and wait for you to come back!" Lady Satomi completely ignored Sesshomaru's jab.

Sesshomaru was also sure that she enjoyed her theatrics a bit too much.

"Mother, we really do have a more serious problem at the moment than the demon migrations caused by Naraku." Sesshomaru tried to remain polite, he really did.

"Naraku? Why that foul, loathsome-"

"Mother." Sesshomaru's sigh was one of long suffering. He knew that if he didn't stop her now, she wouldn't stop ranting until the sun went down. Which was in a couple of hours.

"Oh yes. About the bond. You just have to will her to get better." Lady Satomi said quite off-handedly and Yukari cracked an eye open to stare at her former employer.

"He has to what?" She managed to finally croak out while everyone else merely stared at the demon Lady slack-jawed. She had to be kidding.

"Will you to get better my dear." Lady Satomi was suddenly the image of patience.

"Her heart got pierced by a poisoned arrow." Kohaku stressed the words 'heart' and 'poisoned', pretty sure that Lady Satomi must have misunderstood, or not heard, him before.

"I know." Lady Satomi said as she waved her hand in the air. "It's rather obvious once you think about it."

"It's not obvious Mother." Sesshomaru was pretty sure that his mother had finally cracked. "She is poisoned and her heart is pierced, how do you expect me to simply 'will her to get better'? It wouldn't do anything. The bond has practically disintegrated anyway."

"No, you just believe the bond to have disintegrated." Lady Satomi stated and raised an eyebrow at her son. "If it had disintegrated you would be dead, there is no way around that. Your father made sure of it."

Sesshomaru and Yukari cast each other dismayed looks. Or, as dismayed as they could get, which wasn't really that clear at all.

"And don't tell me that any poison would actually hurt her. You and she ate your way through my cupboard of different poisons when you were small, believing them to be some sorts of juices and sweets. You two are practically impervious to poison." She sniffed her nose delicately, as if it were a personal insult to her that they had eaten their way through it. "And she is no more human than I am." She added haughtily towards the end.

"Doesn't change the fact that she is dying." Inuyasha decided to point out in that moment and everyone shot him a glare that told him to shut up. He gulped and Kagome patted his arm reassuringly.

"Well, what do you propose as the reason for our combined deaths then?" Sesshomaru asked sarcastically.

"You both believe that she is dying and are trying to terminate the bond so that only she dies and not you, which is utter and complete rubbish of course. Trying to do what you are at the moment is what's killing her and will eventually kill you. So just stop it."

She sent both of them a look, one that clearly stated that 'you are idiots. Stop being so stupid so that I don't get infected by your stupidity as well.' Sesshomaru resisted the urge to gape at her.

"Come on Rina, let's go back to the castle. Lunch is waiting for us." And Lady Satomi spun around and created a bubble so that they could travel back to their home.

Rina did gape at her.

"But Lady Satomi-"

"Rina. We're going. Now." And Rina got up with a heavy sigh, whispered something into her best friend's ear and then stepped into the bottle.

"I expect to see you all soon for your inauguration into the demon court." Lady Satomi said, looking at them all with an expression that could not be misread.

And they were gone, leaving behind the silence that had bene there at the beginning too.

~.~.~.~.~

"How do you will someone to get better?" Inuyasha asked a couple of minutes after Lady Satomi and Rina had left.

"Well not by crowding the person who is meant to do so." Kagome replied.

"Let's go home?" Sango asked, not even attempting to hide the relief on her face.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Miroku smiled.

"Sesshomaru." Sesshomaru turned to see Inuyasha standing there, waiting for him to turn around. "See you soon." And Inuyasha turned around and joined the others as they walked away, Kagome shyly linking an arm with him as they continued down the road.

Kohaku smirked, finally they had acted on their affections.

It was the closest that Inuyasha would ever get to telling his brother to better still be alive so that they could meet again. Which inadversably was also telling him to do what his mother had told him to do and 'will' Yukari to stay alive.

Sesshomaru was surprised when Yukari's hand fell into his lap. He turned around quickly only to see a small smile on her face as she lay there with her eyes closed.

"Okay." He knew what she wanted to tell him by doing so and he accepted it.

They would be fine.

Somehow.

~.~.~.~.~

The journey back to their own village wasn't as long as the journey to the Slayer's village had been, nor did it feel so strenuous. It was actually rather comforting, travelling along the roads at their own paces.

The world around really did seem to pause as they passed by. Inuyasha and Kagome were holding hands the entire way, never letting the other out of their sights for long. With Naraku gone (at least temporarily) peace had returned to the countryside.

Not much talking had been done while they were travelling, everyone being immersed in their own thoughts as they contemplated what had happened. Naraku and Kikyo being gone was a problem, but it was one that they could not solve at the moment, especially seeing as Sango would be giving birth quite soon.

"What bond was Lady Satomi speaking of?" Kagome asked as they were rounding the last corner on the road to their village. It had plagued her non-stop the entire way back. It had annoyed her even before that when she had seen how close Sesshomaru and Yukari had always stayed to one another.

"I'm not sure." Inuyasha looked at Kagome tenderly for a minute before concentrating back on the road. "Sesshomaru never really tells me anything and I believe that the 'bond' that my stepmother was talking of is something that she, at least indirectly, inflicted on them."

"And I doubt he'll ever really tell us what it is." Miroku added and Sango nodded. It was rather hard to imagine Sesshomaru opening up to them.

"There's the village!" Shippo's excited cry distracted them from any further conversation on the topic and they grinned as they hurried to get to the village.

They were finally home.

~.~.~.~.~

"Ayumi!" The cry of her name pulled Ayumi from her work and she glanced up to see Kagome running towards her.

"Kagome?" She carefully put down the cloth that she had been about to hang up and ran towards her friend, meeting her halfway. After dropping something a couple of weeks ago, Kaede had scolded her non-stop that if she was going to leave her work for something else, then she should at least put it down properly and not drop it and possibly break it.

She had learnt her lesson.

"When did you get back?" Ayumi looked her friend up and down, checking for any wounds or other injuries and felt relief course through her as she realised that everything was okay.

"Just now. We saw you standing out here, doing the washing, so we came to meet you first." Ayumi peered around Kagome as she said that and noticed Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango and the two demons come towards her as well.

"Kaede's going to be pleased that you're back. We were quite worried about you." Ayumi looked at her friend sternly and Kagome felt a the stare penetrate her.

"We're all fine Ayumi. Seriously, everyone is fine." Kagome smiled and slowly Ayumi returned the smile, glad that her friend really was back and that she was completely fine. Plus, she appeared to be glowing for some reason or the other and Ayumi would bet everything that she currently owned (which wasn't a lot) that it had something to do with Inuyasha.

But she would interrogate her friend later. For now, they had to get to Kaede and reassure her that everyone was well.

They walked through the village, people greeting them all as they walked down the streets and Ayumi told them about everything that had happened in the three months that they had been gone.

Apparently that was quite a lot because she had a lot of tales to tell. The farmer that lived a bit more into the forest had been attacked by demons and was currently living in the village with a friend. He was fine, only slightly injured, and he lamented the loss of his crop more than the wounds that he had gained. Inuyasha and Miroku immediately said that they would look into it.

The crops were doing well and it looked like this year would be a good year for the village. Ayumi had learned a lot about farming in the last three months so she used quite a few technical terms that Kagome did not understand. Inuyasha explained it all to her though as they walked and she smiled at him, grateful for his explanations.

Ayumi grinned. Oh, she was so going to grill Kagome on the whole thing with Inuyasha later. Even a blind person could see that they were head-over-heels for one another.

Uri had apparently given birth to a healthy baby boy and Ayumi gushed about how great it was, being there and helping someone give birth. Miroku and Inuyasha distanced themselves a bit during that conversation, not really wishing to be a part of it. It was during that time that Rin spotted them and launched herself at them, chatting happily with them and embellishing Ayumi's stories as well.

Therefore they reached Kaede's cottage in no time and the old woman was overjoyed to see them again.

"I knew ye would make it back safely." She smiled before inviting them all in and making tea. Once they had all settled they sat down and told everyone present of what had happened.

"My sister is alive?" Kaede was pale.

"Yes. It appears that her current reincarnation was used by the demons or something to revive her. There was something strange about her though." Kagome replied.

"What was it?" Kaede was unhappy. Just when her sister had finally achieved that long awaited peace, she was ripped from it and pulled back into the present world. It was cruel and made her angry at the demons. The dead should be allowed to rest.

"She felt...pure from what I could sense." Kagome furrowed her brows. "It's something that I don't quite understand. It was the same with Naraku. Neither felt inherently evil or even remotely close to what demons usually feel like. Both felt almost...child-like." Kagome didn't look pleased with the explanation herself.

"And she's gone?" Kaede wanted to reconfirm that in particular.

"Yes. She and Naraku left through some sort of portal." Inuyasha was the one who replied this time.

"But we cannot be exactly sure what it was. To us it looked as if they were walking into, or rather through, a wall." Miroku added.

"And Midoriko got sucked in as well." Sango's comment followed her husband's.

"Midoriko?" Kaede's eyes widened. "As in the priestess Midoriko who created the Shikon no Tama in the first place?"

"The one and only." Shippo nodded and that launched the whole story of them travelling to the past and meeting Midoriko there, of finding out about her intense hatred for demons and about Sesshomaru clearing some of the confusion up due to Yukari's vision.

"Lord Sesshomaru is alright?" Rin asked, her eyes bright as she inquired about her adoptive father's health.

"Yeah, he's fine. I think Yukari just needs to heal and then they'll both be annoying each other again." Inuyasha muttered and Kagome jabbed him in the side. Not as harshly as she had done before though.

"What do you mean, Lady Yukari just needs to heal?" Rin looked perplexed.

And that spanned the story of the very strange link-bond thing that Sesshomaru and Yukari apparently had that nobody quite understood and of how she got injured in the first place.

By the time that they had finished their story, the sun had set and the stars were twinkling in the sky above. Kaede looked out of the window and then looked back at the weary travellers in front of her, all worn out from their journey.

"Ye all need to go to bed, your journey was long and ye are all tired." Kaede looked at them sternly and Sango smiled slightly.

"Best idea that I have heard in a long time." Sango said, absolutely exhausted. She had dozed off here and there as the evening had gone on, her back and feet killing her. She would never admit it but the pregnancy was hard on her and she knew that on the way back, everyone had travelled a lot slower than they normally would have because of her.

She hated admitting that she had a weakness but she appreciated their concern nonetheless.

As they all went to bed, right in Kaede's cottage as nobody could really be bothered to get up and move once again, Kaede smiled. Once everyone was settled and sleep had stolen them away she stepped out into the night, her old joints creaking slightly as she sat down on a bench near her cottage.

It would snow soon, she could feel that in her bones. But she also knew that she wouldn't be able to get any sleep tonight. While she normally did not get any visions, the dream that had visited her a month ago caused her great worry. And after hearing of her sister and Naraku today, that worry had just amplified.

Her sister and Naraku would return.

And that other woman was probably Midoriko.

She didn't know who the other demon was though, but she could feel that he would possibly be the most dangerous foe ever to walk this earth.

The only question that remained was when would this all occur?


	20. A New Beginning

_A/N: So this is it...the end has arrived. I cannot believe that this story is actually over. It has been great writing it and hearing your feedback, and on that note I have to say that your support was absolutely amazing. Thank you all. :)_

_Enjoy the last chapter of Timeless!_

_RxExR!_

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><p><em>Timeless<em>

_Chapter 20 - A New Beginning_

The next couple of weeks flew by as if they were nothing. Normal life continued in the village as Kagome got used to being the miko in residence once more. Sango prepared for the upcoming birth of her and Miroku's child and Miroku and Inuyasha went off again on demon extermination quests. Shippo went back to his kitsune master to continue his studies, but promised to be back for the birth of the child and Kirara vanished for a good two or three weeks before returning and taking up the position of being Sango's guard.

Ayumi continued to live her life peacefully, enjoying the slow tempo of the countryside and the joy that she found in working on the fields with Kaede, learning the ins and outs of herbs and their many uses. It was a wonderful life for her and she felt some guilt in admitting that she enjoyed it more than she had ever enjoyed her life in the modern day. The simplicity of this life appealed to her, there was no other way to explain it.

"Ayumi!" Rin ran up to the young woman, grinning from ear to ear as she held out the lunch that Kaede had prepared for the two of them.

"It's already noon?" Ayumi looked up to see the sun hanging low in the sky. It had snowed recently and due to that, some of the rarer herbs had made their appearance which Kaede had instructed her and Rin to collect.

Normally Jinenji would be joining them too but he had been looking after his mother, who had caught a cold, lately and was therefore unable to come. He had asked them whether they could collect some of the herbs for him too, which they had agreed to do.

"Yeah, the time's flown by." Rin smiled as they settled underneath a bare tree, the snow sparkling around them as the sun hit it.

"It sure has." Ayumi smiled, knowing that Rin wasn't only talking about today. The last couple of weeks had really flown by. Kagome joined them about half of the time, also learning about the many different herbs and their uses from Kaede and Jinenji. The other half she spent directly with Kaede, learning how to be a miko and how to use her powers properly. Kaede had pretty much elected her as her successor after all.

Today Kagome wasn't joining them though as Inuyasha had asked whether she could be excused for today. Kaede had smirked when he had asked and had teased him a bit for agreeing to his request. The two of them were pretty sure that they knew why Inuyasha wanted Kagome to himself today but Kagome, as usual, was completely ignorant to it.

It certainly was amusing to watch.

"I wonder if Lord Sesshomaru is going to join us soon." Rin said after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence, which Ayumi had wisely used to eat her lunch. Rin was a very talkative person so she knew that the young girl would not stay quiet for long.

"Probably. I mean, he mentioned that he would come and collect us so that we could join the Taishou Court, right?" Ayumi still had her qualms about that in particular. Okay, so she knew a couple of pretty decent demons (something that she still had trouble wrapping her head around) but from what she knew, most demons were not like that. Most couldn't even tolerate being in the presence of humans. How would this work out again?

"Mm-hmm." Rin nodded enthusiastically. "But apparently we can go back here after it's all over. Knowing Sesshomaru's mother though, that might take a bit longer." Rin looked slightly pensive at that.

"What's she like?" Ayumi asked, taking a bite out of her apple.

"Hm?" Rin looked up at her, having been lost in thought.

"Lady Satomi Taishou." Ayumi clarified. "From what I saw the last time, or rather heard of it, she's not the easiest person to be around."

"Yeah. I've only really ever met her once, and that was when she revived me," Ayumi marvelled at how nonchalantly Rin had said that, "And she is quite funny. Well, theatrical as Lord Sesshomaru called it." She smiled brightly. "But she's not that bad." Ayumi felt a sweatdrop at the back of her head, really, nothing was 'that bad' for Rin, the girl was exceedingly optimistic.

"Do you think it's going to be soon?" Ayumi looked up at the sky, noting that clouds were beginning to form a darker mass. It was going to storm soon.

"Yeah. I mean, Sango's going to give birth any day now so that's really the only thing that would prevent the travelling." Rin mused. "Probably within the next two or three weeks." She smiled. "Or something like that." She shrugged.

"Yeah." Ayumi smiled. "Come on, let's get those herbs before it starts to storm, those clouds don't look too friendly." Rin looked up at the sky and nodded.

"Okay." And she jumped up, her boundless energy making Ayumi grin.

She really did like the feudal era after all.

~.~.~.~.~

"Inuyasha, where are you taking me?" Kagome asked, feeling pretty certain that nothing good could come out of Inuyasha blindfolding her and then leading her somewhere. At least, nothing good had ever come out of situations like these as far as she was concerned.

You just had to ask her about her eighth birthday and she would tell you all about it.

"Patience Kagome." Inuyasha grinned as Kagome pouted at that. She hated being told what to do and hearing the word 'patience' coming from him was going to irk her in particular. He and patience had always had quite an antagonistic relationship after all.

"Inuyasha." Kagome wasn't amused, not at all.

"We're nearly there." He was almost bouncing with nervous excitement, this was possibly one of those life-changing moments and he really wanted it to be perfect. The only thing preventing the perfection at the moment were those horrible grey clouds. He really hoped that the storm would wait for at least another couple of hours, or maybe just one, so that he could do this.

"Okay, we're here." He said and carefully led Kagome over to a rock, the one where he had put a blanket on.

"Wait here for a second." He instructed her and let go of her hand. He dashed about the small meadow, the one where the well was, and grinned to himself as he realised that everything was ready.

"Okay, you can take off the blindfold now." He told her and Kagome removed the blindfold, ready to tell Inuyasha exactly what she thought of his act. No words escaped her mouth however as she took in the sight in front of her.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Small, delicate snowflakes drifted through the air, glittering brightly in many different colours as the light from the small flames reflected off of them. Inuyasha was kneeling in the middle of a ring of fire, literally. Well, on second glance they were actually small bowls that were lit up with small fires within them.

Kagome's hands flew to her mouth as she realised that the form of the small fires (or large candles) were a copy of the Shikon no Tama.

"Inuyasha, what-" She glanced around the meadow, taking in the beauty of the scene and his kneeling form once more.

"Kagome," Inuyasha cleared his throat, feeling more nervous than he ever had in his entire life, "I know that at times I can be annoying, well, more like frustratingly annoying if you ask our friends and that I really can be pig-headed. I have quite a few flaws and am far from perfect and how you ever saw anything worth something in me four years ago, I do not know.

What I do know however, is that I love you. And I have loved you for the better part of the last four years although I might not have realised it at the start. You are the most brilliant and kind person that I have ever met and you are beautiful, both inside and out.

And while I know that we will probably fight in the future and that we will always have different views on things, ahem, eating vegetables, ahem, I promise to always stick around until the end of the fights and never walk away. Actually to never walk away from you ever. And now that we actually have eternity, I think that should count for something.

But I know that I'm rambling and the point of this ridiculously long and sappy speech is just one thing.

Kagome Higurashi, will you marry me?"

He produced a small ring, one that his mother had given him before she died, telling him to give it to 'the right one'. Interestingly he had never thought of giving it to Kikyo, it had always seemed that it didn't suit her.

At least he now knew why. Kikyo was a brilliant person and would have made someone very happy. That person just wasn't him though and it had taken him nearly too long to realise that.

Inuyasha didn't take his eyes off her, just as he hadn't taken them off of her during his speech. Really, Miroku, Shippo, Kaede and Sango combined had given him a lot of pointers on what to say to her. In the end he had sort of rambled his way through it though, which strangely felt a lot better.

Kagome swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked furiously as tears threatened to fall down her cheeks.

As the seconds ticked by and Inuyasha grew more and more tense, Kagome realised that she hadn't actually said anything yet.

"Of course I'll marry you, you idiot." And she ran forward into his arms and hugged him tight. The kiss that they shared was electrifying, toe-curling.

Gently Inuyasha slipped the silver ring onto Kagome's finger.

"It's a perfect fit." He smiled.

She grinned in reply, her head resting perfectly in the niche between his head and his shoulder.

"Of course it is."

He smiled.

~.~.~.~.~

"Where are Jaken, Kohaku and Ah-Un?" Yukari asked, her eyes closed as she rested on the bed where she had been resting for the past three weeks.

"Out." Was Sesshomaru's monosyllabic answer.

"Out where?" Yukari cracked an eye open to stare at him, blinking a couple of times as the light blinded her.

"Business." Was his next answer.

Yukari sighed. Ever since they had found this cottage and she and Sesshomaru had worked on somehow restoring their 'bond' (which she still had no clue about as Lady Satomi had once again remained purposefully vague) they had been stuck there.

Well, stuck in the sense that she was lying on the bed, waiting patiently for her wound to heal while Sesshomaru waited not so patiently for her to be able to move around again without injuring herself further.

(They had been reduced to the maximum of ten metres apart once again.)

"Sesshomaru." His name was uttered in complete exasperation. Ever since they had determined that she would not die and take him with her to the grave, he had reverted to the Sesshomaru of four months ago. Which meant no talking, monosyllabic answers when he felt like it and a general avoidance of her.

And having to deal with that while being confined to a bed was not fun in the least.

"They are preparing for our return to the court." He finally managed to say after a couple of minutes of her directing a fierce glare in his direction.

"See, was that really so hard to say the first time around?" She asked, annoyance radiating off of her.

"Yes." And Sesshomaru walked out of the door, intent on being the maximum distance apart from her.

"Bloody idiot." Yukari closed her eyes, intending to fall into a deep sleep once more. The quicker she got better, the quicker they would be able to leave.

~.~.~.~.~

"Where the bloody hell is Miroku?" Sango swore as she pushed again, just as Kaede had instructed.

"He's outside, you know he's not allowed to come in." Rin tried to soothe the other woman, something that Sango was obstinately fighting against.

"Well let him come in so that I can strangle him!" She shouted and outside the cottage Miroku winced as he heard his wife's cursing.

"I'm a dead man." He muttered, leaning against the wall of the cottage dejectedly.

"Once this is over, she'll be fine." Inuyasha said, attempting to stop his friend from entertaining such detrimental thoughts.

"She won't kill you." Kohaku mentioned from his other side, having arrived two days ago, afraid that his niece or nephew had already been born. Luckily for him, they hadn't.

Miroku sent them both a look. "I'm dead, no matter what you say."

"You won't be." Inuyasha insisted.

"Hopefully." Kohaku muttered quietly underneath his breath, knowing full well that his sister might hold a grudge. Then again, this was kind of different to the time when he stolen a piece of her favourite cake when they were kids. She had held onto that grudge for months.

But, as he had said before, this was something completely different.

"Where's Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked, looking over at Kohaku in an attempt to divert at least some of Miroku's attention from his screaming wife a couple of metres away.

"He and Lady Yukari are on their way here." Kohaku said, his brow furrowing as he thought about the demon lord's strange behaviour over the last couple of weeks. "We left Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Yukari two weeks ago. According to what we know, she should be pretty much healed by now and they should be able to move and come here."

It was by some unspoken consent that neither Miroku or Inuyasha asked about why they were only able to move as an entity.

"Miroku, you two-faced bastard! Come in here and be a man and bear some of this pain as well!" Sango's screech had Miroku shivering and Inuyasha and Kohaku winced from the amount of malice in that voice.

"Oh no you don't." Inuyasha said and pulled Miroku back down to sit next to him.

"You are not going anywhere, especially not in there. Kagome, Kaede and Rin will have your head if you do. Not to mention what my sister might do once she's back to normal." Kohaku agreed, tightly gripping Miroku's other arm.

"So, what did you actually do over the past month or so?" Inuyasha asked, twitching as he attempted to not show his discomfort at the whole situation. As a hanyou, his sense of smell and hearing was much better than any human's and right now it was proving to be a disadvantage yet again.

He did not really want to know the exact details of childbirth, yet in order to keep his friend there and to make sure that he didn't either go inside, or run for the hills from the sudden panic that appeared to be overtaking him at the moment, he was doing this.

Miroku'd better be aware of how much of his sanity this was costing him and he'd better appreciate it.

Or he could just completely ignore it and go about his usual business once this all was over. If he thought about it, it didn't really make that much of a difference after all.

Kohaku shivered from the cold and quickly made a small fire in order to keep them warm outside the cottage while they waited and began to tell Inuyasha and Miroku of all the places that he had travelled in the past month in order to prepare for Sesshomaru's return to the court.

Really, if it always took this much effort just to go to the court, then nobody really had to wonder why Sesshomaru preferred not to even be there in the first place. It was incredibly tiring, having to negotiate and be diplomatic about everything. Kohaku was just glad that it was finally over. Or at least for now anyway.

"So where's Jaken? Shouldn't he be here as well?" Miroku asked, finally allowing himself to be slightly distracted by Kohaku's tales. At least half a day had passed since Sango had gone into labour and he was grateful that both his best friend and brother-in-law were trying to help him, but Sango and his child were never far from his mind.

In fact, they were right at the forefront of it all.

"Fine senses." Kohaku tapped his nose knowingly. "He said he wouldn't come within one hundred metres of the cottage, apparently having such good senses is a definite downside in this case." He said, shooting Inuyasha a glance that told the hanyou that he was aware of how much his senses were being overloaded by stuff that he really didn't want his senses to be overloaded by.

"Ah, okay." Miroku apparently, was still too distracted to really notice that though.

"Push!" The shout from Kaede was followed by a shout from Sango and all three men winced. Really, why was this so difficult?

This continued for quite some time, when suddenly a shrill scream filled the air. Miroku immediately jumped to his feet, ready to barge into the cottage when Inuyasha once again restrained him.

"It's the baby Miroku, leave them some time to get the child cleaned up." Inuyasha said softly, knowing that shouting would not help Miroku right now. The man's nerves were already frayed enough as it was, he didn't need his best friend adding to that stress.

"Sorry." Miroku suddenly realised how Inuyasha knew that this was happening.

"It's no problem." Inuyasha said gruffly and Miroku nodded in thanks, gratitude clear in his eyes.

"There's another one coming!" Kaede's surprised shout had Miroku stumbling and Kohaku cough on the warm broth he had been drinking.

"What?!" Both Kohaku and Miroku looked first at the cottage and then at Inuyasha who was smirking broadly.

"Congratulations my friend, it looks like you're having twins." He grinned and Miroku suddenly narrowed his eyes at him.

"You knew this, didn't you?" He asked, suspicion colouring his voice.

"It's bad luck to let the couple know of the amount of children and their gender before they are born." Inuyasha shrugged, but the slight mischievious look in his eyes remained.

"I'm having twins. Sango's having twins. We're having twins." Miroku was pacing up and down through the snow and Inuyasha and Kohaku watched his progress with interest.

"It's only two right?" Miroku looked at Inuyasha desperately, seeking to know the answer. He was worried for Sango who, despite the apparent immortality the Taishou Crest offered them, was still susceptible to the ordinary diseases that followed the mother after childbirth. At least, that was what Sesshomaru had told them in a rather roundabout way. And she was giving birth twice, technically speaking, so there was twice the risk than with only one child.

"Relax, it's only twins." Inuyasha attempted to be soothing, but was pretty sure that his voice only served to aggravate Miroku more.

"I think he's finally snapped." Kohaku said calmly, watching his brother-in-law nervously clawing at the sleeves of his clothes.

"Push!" Kaede's voice was loud and clear.

"We haven't even decided on one name yet, let along two!" Miroku despaired and Kohaku and Inuyasha watched him with sympathy. This was something that their friend was going to have to work through on his own.

"Oh yes, and I believe congratulations are in order?" Kohaku turned to Inuyasha who blushed slightly underneath the scrutiny of the younger man.

"You proposed?" Miroku spun around on the spot to face his best friend. "When? And how come Kohaku knows but I don't?" He was staring at Inuyasha, his gaze accusatory.

"First, yes I did propose. It was this morning, right before Sango went into labour. And Kohaku probably knows because he was with Sango when she called for us and we told her that we were engaged and she told us that she was going into labour. I then ran off to get you." Inuyasha summarised quickly, praying that they wouldn't ask for details. He would never live it down.

"And you conveniently forgot to tell me?" Miroku looked slightly affronted. "Ah, congratulations by the way. I can't say that I didn't see it coming." He grinned briefly before another of his wife's shouts commanded his attention once more.

"You and everybody else apparently." Inuyasha muttered underneath his breath. "I was more focused on getting you back here for the birth of your children." He added wryly.

"Oh god, children. She's going to kill me." Miroku blanched and began to sway on the spot, finally ceasing with his pacing.

"She's not going to-" Kohaku began.

"Miroku-san?" Kaede's head appeared as she stepped out of the door. "Do you want to come in and see your children?" She smiled gently at the extremely nervous and pasty man in front of her. Gone was all the exuberant confidence that he had always possessed, gone was the façade that he had always put up before really settling into the group.

In front of her was a new father, nervous, excited and absolutely terrified.

"Meet your daughters." She smiled as she handed him one of the baby girls after walking to where Sango was lying in the room and watched as Miroku's eyes widened.

"I have two baby girls?" He croaked and Kaede nodded. Slowly Kagome and Rin, whom he'd nodded at when entering the house, left through the front door, knowing that he would now want his privacy.

The pregnancy had gone well. The children were safe and well and Sango was also okay, despite being extremely tired. Giving birth to twins tended to do that to one.

Slowly she slipped from the room as well, leaving behind a beaming Sango and the stupefied Miroku.

"Can I?" He asked, gesturing to the spot on the futon next to her.

"Of course." Sango's voice was strained but she was smiling as she shuffled over slightly, holding their other daughter in her arms.

A gurgle broke him out of his trance and he smiled gently at his daughter in his arms. Slowly, he lowered himself to the spot next to his wife and other daughter and settled down.

"Amaterasu." He said and Sango looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"I'd like to call her Amaterasu, she's like a shining heaven, literally." Adoration was clear in his eyes as he stared at the small girl in his arms, marvelling at how fragile she appeared. The name was perfect, fitting her delicate appearance,

"Then she will be called Chiyoko." Sango looked down at the sleeping child in her arms, her heart swelling as she watched her daughter breathing in and out.

"Fitting." Miroku smiled. "And absolutely beautiful." He shared a loving look with Sango and the two of them shuffled even closer, mindful of the babies between them.

As exhaustion overcame the whole family, they marvelled at their good fortune and prayed for luck in the future.

A child of a thousand generations, that was something that both girls were.

~.~.~.~.~

A week later found Jaken slowly going stir crazy as he waited for Sesshomaru to arrive and even Kohaku was starting to grow agitated. It wasn't like the demon lord to be tardy and he had told them specifically to be here by this time.

They were starting to get worried.

That morning Ayumi awoke to a small robin singing outside her window and she stretched, feeling something strange in her bones. Today was the day, she could just tell it.

Apparently she wasn't the only one as dawn found all of them gathered at the road where she and Kagome had appeared nearly half a year ago. They had already said their farewells to Kaede and the villagers, promising to be back soon.

Sango and Miroku stood there, nearly falling asleep as they cradled their daughters closer, yawning every couple of minutes as the sun's rays hit them and the countryside around them.

Inuyasha and Kagome stood next to each other, their hands entwined as they enjoyed the silence, something that most would have thought of impossible before. Ayumi was truly happy for her friend, she had never seen Kagome more elated and she knew that Inuyasha was feeling the same.

She allowed a brief smile to cross her face. She had taken it upon herself to give Inuyasha the 'hurt her and you'll die' speech in the place of Kagome's family and her other friends. It had been amusing to say the least.

Kohaku, Jaken and Ah-Un observed the countryside carefully, no fatigue showing at all. Ayumi wondered whether it had something to do with them serving Lord Sesshomaru or whether they simply were that way. She really couldn't decide.

Rin was standing next to her, bouncing up and down in excitement while Kirara and Shippo sat in her own arms, appreciating her calm and relaxed posture.

"They're here." Kohaku squinted at the sky as he saw them approaching, noting that Sesshomaru wasn't flying as fast as he normally would.

Yukari wasn't completely healed then.

They arrived gracefully, Yukari sliding down from his mokomoko-sama, wobbling only slightly as she stood up straight.

"Let's go into the depths of hell then." Inuyasha remarked, sighing in resignation as he finally accepted that, yes, this was happening and no, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hn." Was Sesshomaru's only answer.

And off they went, their goal being the Great Western Lands.

Lady Satomi smiled sadly to herself as she watched their leaving through a crystal ball with Rina.

They had no idea how much the stay would change them all.

* * *

><p><em>Second AN: Tada! The end has arrived, but fear not, a sequel is in the works! This time, I'm planning on writing about half of the story before posting it so that the long waits between chapters are eradicated. ;) I also want to finish my other stories first, or at least finish another one or two...so you'll probably not hear about the sequel before the summer as I have exams coming up and reality simply takes priority over fiction._

_I hope to see you all again and thanks again for the amazing support over the past two years! :)_

_-SunRae5_


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